Fate: Dawn Arising
by Cizzymac
Summary: Five years following the events of Fate, something stirs in the bowels of Fuyuki City. Though the Great Grail has been dismantled, the sixth Heaven's Feel begins, and a new hero must take the reigns to stop the bloodshed. Rating subject to change.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Fate/Stay Night's characters or scenario, however, the OC's in this story in fact do belong to me, as does this story. This story begins five years following the events of Fate.

Fate/Dawn Arising

Chapter 1: Nightmare Gaze

I really don't understand why, but every year around this time, I have this recurring dream. A dream…that's putting it much too lightly. This could not be described as anything other than the worst nightmare I will ever experience. Even worse, this dream comes from an actual event in my life, and I'm sure you'll agree with me, dear reader, that dreaming about a traumatic event, even five years down the road, can still scare the dickens out of you when you wake up from it.

In this nightmare of nightmares I am sitting in my first-year high school classroom. As far as I can recall, it was either fourth or fifth period. The exact time of the event escapes me, but I'm quite certain it was rather soon after lunch. Either way, the exact time is irrelevant.

Now, when most people experience a dream that involves sitting in a classroom or standing in front of a classroom, the dreamer or the people around the dreamer are usually in an embarrassing state of undress. Fortunately for me, this is not the case. Although I certainly would not have minded seeing a few of my fellow female classmates in such a situation, but that's neither here nor there.

Anyway, I was bored to tears by my teacher's lecture that day more so than others. What was the name of the teacher name again? Sakamoto? Sakamura? Again, the name escapes my misty recollection. Why do I worry about the mundane details anyway, when this tragedy had absolutely nothing to do with the name of my teacher at the time? After all, the fact of the matter is in about ten seconds I really won't care so much about the names of any of my teachers. Or anyone else in my class at that time, for that matter.

I'm so learned about this particular dream that I can practically count down to the very second when it suddenly happens: a misty red haze envelops the class, and in the same instant, the teacher whose name I cannot recollect collapses to the floor in a heap. Several of the girls in my class yell out or gasp in horror at the sight of the teacher falling unconscious the very moment before everyone other than me slumps over in their chairs, their heads cracking on their desks with a dull thud.

The order of events in this dream is completely static. As though I am watching a movie filmed with my own two eyes. And just thinking about what was coming next makes me want to vomit. A rank smell violates my nostrils: the smell of burning flesh. The students around me are moaning in agony, slithering from their desks to the floor as their very flesh melts from their bones, smoke rising in tendrils off of their rapidly dissolving bodies. Even stranger still, it seemed this red haze swallowing the classroom left only me intact. And now, just as it was back then, the simplest of questions enters my mind: why was I the only one spared this gruesome fate?

Naturally, I did the first thing that came to mind: in a panic, I fled the classroom. It's rather interesting watching your own movements in a dream. I clearly remember feeling some sort of crushing pain in my chest at the time, but in this dream, I don't feel anything. I should be gasping, taking in heaving breaths, but my respiration is calm and deep. I am simply watching my mind's eye as I move through this predetermined scenario. Here I go again, getting sidetracked by my own babble.

The hallway was empty, but the mysterious red fog stretched as far as I could see in every direction. I rushed to the next class and peered through the small pane of glass on the door. Beyond the portal was an image exactly the same as my classroom. I could hear their voices crying out in agony for help. But what could I do? I didn't even understand what was happening; much less do anything to help any of the strangers crying out for aid.

I recall at this time the pain in my chest was starting to become unbearable, and I knew I needed to get away from there as soon as I could or else I was going to end up like my fellow classmates and teachers. The red haze seemed to be sapping the strength from me, and my vision began to waver as I made my way towards the stairs.

Stumbling down the stairs to the second-year's level, I began to hear the sounds of combat coming from the opposite end of the hallway. The clang of metal on metal, it sounded more like a video game than real life. But the intense ringing in my ears made no mistake; there was some sort of sword fight going on downstairs. After witnessing human flesh vaporizing in front of my eyes, something as simple as that would be no surprise at all.

The weakness in my chest finally reached my legs, and I tripped over the final two stairs and landed face first in the hallway. The clashing of steel suddenly stopped, and I glanced over to where the sounds were coming from, and my vision was assailed with something I was certain was impossible. Fifty feet from where I lay was a blonde woman clad in some sort of blue dress. But that was not the amazing part. She wore an enruned, silvered metal breastplate complete with matching gauntlets and leg greaves. Her back was to me, so I could not make out her face, but I could tell simply by looking at her back that she was some sort of old-fashioned knight. I don't know to this day what it was about her, but I felt an aura of familiarity about her, but even now I cannot place it. More than anything, looking at her gave me a strong sense of déjà-vu.

Standing no more than ten feet away from the knight was another female warrior. What caught my attention most about this particular person was her extremely long violet-colored hair that reached down to the floor even from her full height, which was by no means short. She practically towered over the smaller knight. With her back to me, it was difficult to see what she wore, since her hair covered almost everything else about her features. I certainly saw the daggers linked to chains she carried in her hands, however.

Speaking of which, I saw no such weapon in the hands of the knight. In fact, the knight's hands were completely empty as far as I could tell. Was it possible she deflected the other woman's attacks with her bare hands? Her gauntlets seemed pretty durable from where I lay, so it was certainly possible.

The two warriors were looking at something at the far end the hallway, and I was too far away to make anything out beyond where they stood. All I knew at that point was the pain in my chest was becoming too much to bear, and I was going to lose consciousness at any moment. Just when I thought I could take no more, my vision fading to black, the drowning sensation in my chest was suddenly lifted, and my exhausted body gasped for air as if it had been submerged in water for three minutes.

By the time I recovered enough to open my eyes and glance down the hallway, I noticed that the crimson fog disappeared from the air without a trace, and I could see everything before me clearly. The golden-haired knight was now standing next to who looked like a student from this school. Even stranger still, the longhaired woman was standing on the far end of the hall in front of yet another student as if to protect him. Now that my vision cleared, I could see she was wearing a short, sexy black shoulder-less dress, and for some reason, she was wearing a visor over her eyes.

Now this is where things really get out of hand, even for my overactive imagination. Suddenly, and without a single ounce of trepidation, the darker of the two warriors raised her dagger and plunged it deep into her own neck! Needless to say, as she pulled the dagger from her neck without a single shred of emotion, a nauseating amount of blood sprayed from her self-inflicted wound, splattering on the walls, floor, and ceiling in a wide arc.

I could feel my strength return to my body. I could have easily stood and ran for the hills from the surreal scene playing out before me. Call me crazy if you would like, but I was transfixed by what my eyes were now seeing. The blood falling like rain from the woman's wound coalesced into a circular pattern, forming into a large sigil suspended in midair like a shield in front of the dark warrior.

And if my brain wasn't already nearly paralyzed from sheer amount of absolutely impossible things I had seen the last five minutes, a giant eyeball protruded from the red symbol, sending me into shock. Although I instinctively knew that eyeball was directing its vision towards the warrior and the student standing between us, I felt as if its malevolent gaze was meant for me alone.

I could not move a muscle as a blinding white light enveloped the dark warrior. The silver knight, moving on pure instinct I'm sure, knocked the student adjacent to her to the ground and threw her armored body on top of him. Nothing but air separated the vision of that evil eyeball from me after that. It seemed to stare through me to my very soul, staining it black with its gaze.

The horrifying light burst forward at inhuman speed and ran through me like a massive blade, cutting my defenseless body asunder. Strangely, there was no pain. Not even back then did I feel pain from that horrific attack. It should have carved through me, leaving nothing but bits of my scattered remains on the walls in its wake. But I remain standing, shielding my face with my hands for several seconds after the light fades from the room.

Slowly, almost as if expecting a secondary attack from that eyeball should I meet its gaze once more, I lowered my arms and blinked several times as my eyes adjusted to the lower level of light in the hallway. My jaw dropped at the carnage I saw before me. The hallway was completely shattered. All of the windows were blown out, the doors ripped from their hinges, the drywall crumbling away from the walls, and the floor was reduced to rubble. It was a miracle that corner of the building remained standing at all.

How could I have survived? Peering down at my feet in wonder, I noticed there was a small, circular halo around my feet that remained completely undamaged, as if I were the source of the attack and not the intended target. The knight and the student…I could no longer see them. They must have been crushed under the weight of the attack, their broken bodies buried under the rubble. There was no doubt they were killed by that monstrous attack. The longhaired warrior and the one she was apparently protecting were missing as well. They must have escaped, or were also killed by the force of that horrendous light.

I suddenly felt very faint, and I knew I had to get away from the school in case that woman returned to finish me off. I forced my legs to move, and I climbed down the stairs to the first floor. As I approached the building's exit, darkness overwhelmed me, and I felt my body fall to the floor, the last image in my mind that of a giant eyeball bearing down on me, ready to take my life.

Of course, that's right when I wake up with a start. I can't help it. It's a reflex. No matter how much time has passed, the end of that dream, with that killer eye opening from that bloody sigil, will forever haunt me.

"Geez, Fukuya-san," the man seated directly next to me in the break room grumbles. "You scared the living crap out of me."

Rubbing my tired eyes as I raise my head from the table, I mutter an apology.

"You really need to stop falling asleep in here during your lunch. Whatever you're dreaming about is scaring the other employees away," my co-worker, Shouji, informs me.

"I don't know what I can say other than sorry, Shouji. I'm not sleeping well at night lately." Of course, I can't tell him why. He'd probably tell me to get my head examined if I explained the dream to him.

"Whatever," Shouji replies off-the-cuff. "You're lunch is about over anyway, so you'd better get back before the boss tears you a new one."

"Alright, alright," I grumble, pushing myself into a standing position. I leave Shouji, who I would consider the closest thing to a friend in this place, even though our relationship could not be considered anything but professional, to his lunch and return to my desk.

The truth is, I've never told anyone about those events I experienced five years ago, nor have I explained to anyone the dreams I have about that time. The official story was that a gas leak broke out in the school, and a spark from a faulty heater on the second floor caused an explosion that severely damaged the hallway.

What a crock of shit. Such a paper-thin explanation would have been torn to shreds had I uttered even a word in protest. The families who had lost their loved ones in that incident deserved to hear the truth about what happened. But at the same time, if I explained what really occurred that day, I would have likely ended up in a psychiatric hospital and I would probably still be there to this day.

So I kept my mouth shut, kept my head down, and went on with my life. I've tried to convince myself that what happened was only a figment of my imagination. But my dreams remind me of the truth. And that truth was inescapable.

Right at the moment I sit down and input my password to unlock my pc and resume my daily duties, the voice of doom booms down from behind me.

"KOSUKE!"

I cringe on instinct. It's never a good thing when he uses my given name. What the hell did I do this time? And why is he yelling so loudly when he's right behind me? I'm not deaf, for crying out loud!

"Yes, sir?" I ask, turning like a swivel in my seat to face the man standing outside of my cubicle.

Glaring down on me like I am an insect is my manager, who I'll call Sakamoto. He's your average evil boss-type person you would see in any manga or video game: Middle-aged, overweight with a balding pate, and a sneer that makes you want to break his nose.

He leans over, coming a little too close to me for comfort. It's intentional, I know. "Have you got any plans this weekend?" he asks haughtily.

I frown without thinking. Of course I did, but with that question, I know whatever I was doing was going to have to be cancelled, even if I was visiting my dying mother. I really hate it when he asks such a ridiculously rhetorical question. If you want me to work over the weekend, just ask!

"No, sir," I lie. Why beat around the bush? There's no need for me to needlessly exhaust myself by trying to reason with the devil.

"Good, because I need you here tomorrow whether you like it or not," Sakamoto says, standing erect and placing his hands on his hips. He has a venomous grin that would make a dervish blush. I really dislike this man, and that's saying a lot. "I want you here on time, do you understand me? If you're late, you will be penalized!"

I don't know what he means by being penalized, but I sure as hell don't want to find out! I nod along like a bobble-head with every word he says. It's the only way I know how to placate him. I refuse to let myself crack in front of him; I won't give him the pleasure. After berating me verbally for a few extra minutes, most likely to stroke his own ego, Sakamoto saunters off to find entertainment elsewhere.

I had been excited about the prospect of having the opportunity to sleep in tomorrow, and I completed my first half of the day with seemingly boundless energy. However, now that my plans were executed by firing squad, I felt dull and listless, and my work suffered for it. If I'm coming in tomorrow anyway, why bother trying to get everything done now? I'll need something to do, or else I'll completely waste my Saturday being bored to tears at my desk.

An hour later, Shouji returns to his desk, which is adjacent to mine. He pokes his head over the cubicle wall and says, "So, he got to you too, eh?"

"Yeah," I reply absentmindedly. "So you're going to be here tomorrow too?"

"Yup. Oh well, it's not like I had any plans anyway. May as well earn a few extra bills for next weekend."

I chuckle at Shouji's naïve thought process. I guess it won't be a complete loss after all. At least I'll have someone to chitchat with when it gets slow.

Why is it that time seems to crawl to a standstill when you are doing something you dislike? This workday felt like it was eighteen hours long rather than the usual eight, but at long last, quitting time arrived. I wasted no time at all and fled like a spotted burglar before Sakamoto could find me and order me to come into work on Sunday as well. I fear I might snap should that happen.

My humble studio apartment is merely three stations away from my workplace in Shinto, so I arrive back home within an hour after leaving work. It's rather easy to bear the winter weather being so close to your destination, so I am grateful for that. Today, however, I decided that cooking a proper dinner was just not going to happen after a day like today, so I made a quick pit stop at a beef bowl place and ordered my usual dish. Oh well, it's not like I can cook much of anything wholesome anyway.

I take a seat at the table planted like a bush in the middle of my room and dig into my purchased meal after turning on the television tucked into the far corner.

I know I'm leading a pretty simple life, but that's just fine by me. I'm accustomed to living on my own, now. After all, it's been two years since I graduated high school, and about a year since the accident that took my parents' lives. I have enough money to get by, even though my petty cash is, well, petty. I almost have enough saved up to start school again. After the accident, there just wasn't enough left over to subsidize college tuition.

It's not like I have some sort of lofty goal anyway. If I could life the rest of my life in peace without any worries other than having a nasty boss or deciding what to do with my free time on the weekends, that will be just fine by me. I've had enough heartache to last two lifetimes after losing everything I had ever known in that fire.

The fire department said it was some sort of gas leak that caused an explosion in the kitchen. A remarkably similar occurrence to the incident five years ago, but I was inclined to believe the official story this time. I was away at college like most people my age, so I was not there, and my parents were sound asleep in their room, apparently, since that was where their remains were found. At the very least, they were able to pass painlessly. That thought always gives me some comfort.

I glance over at the shrine for my parents, consisting of a tiny table resting against the far wall of my room with a picture of them smiling at the camera while embracing, some wilted flowers and a half-used stick of incense. I wonder if they are proud that their son is living such an easygoing life. Could I look directly at them and say that everything is fine and I am happy the way things are right now?

All I really want right now is to graduate and work for a company that actually respects its employees. It's such a simple goal, but at least it's an honest one. But one thought never escapes my mind. Why is it that, with the disaster at the school five years ago, and my parents dying in a house fire last year, am I the only one that was spared from those tragedies? Was it luck or for some reason unknown to me that I'm still breathing right now? The only thing I'm certain of is that I will continue to live until I find the answers. If I live like an everyman in the meantime, so be it.

Enough with reminiscing. I dispose of my leftover trash and roll out my futon. It's still quite early in the evening, but I have an early day tomorrow and I could really use the extra sleep. I've nothing else better to do anyway. I pray that no reddish fog or violet-haired warriors invade my dreams tonight. However, upon glancing at my calendar pinned to the fall next to me, I realize tomorrow is the seventh of February. Yeah, my prayers will be in vain.

While I try to fall asleep, I scratch absentmindedly at my left hand, which has suddenly begun to itch uncontrollably. As if it wasn't already difficult enough to sleep…

"Can you sense him?" the young Master asked.

"Or her, you mean?" the faceless Servant replied.

"…Yes, of course. Just answer the question."

"You should know better than that. I can only sense Servants using my skills in this class. It's the job of the Master to find the other Masters."

"I see. This is a problem. We need to eliminate the last one before he performs the summoning."

"I wouldn't worry too much about that. It seems this last one has no idea what is going on. Otherwise, the summoning would have already occurred."

"Even still, I cannot leave things up to chance. There's no telling what kind of person he will be."

"Are you scared?"

"Aren't you?"

"Fear is useless on a battlefield. It dulls your senses; makes you weak."

"Saber is the only one left outstanding. The strongest of the servants, even in the hands of an unqualified magus, is very dangerous. Saber has managed to win the last two wars regardless of the status of her Master."

"Very interesting. This information makes me want this unknown Master to summon this Saber. It sounds like she would make a very interesting target."

"This is not the time to be messing around. Allowing Saber to be summoned is a risk I am not willing to take."

"Of course, Master. I will do as you say."

"Very well. When the last is discovered, I'll leave him to you, Assassin."

Profile

Kosuke Fukuya

Age: 21

Height: 177 cm

Weight: 76 kg

Occupation: Salary-man (Accounting)

Education: Graduate of Fuyuki High School / Freshman year of college completed at Tokyo University (Mathematics)

Magical Energy: None(?)

Born and raised in Fuyuki City, Kosuke has lived a generally sheltered life, unexposed to the harshness of the outside world. If one were to ask him about his youth, however, he would tell you that it was just fine with him. He kept himself relatively grounded as a youth, not apt to follow along with his friends' wide-eyed, imaginative dreams of adventure, fame, and fortune.

His grounded nature explains why he never told a soul about the events that took place during that February afternoon during his first year in high school. He was certain no one would believe his insane story in the first place, so he considered it something that would remain in his memory and his alone, despite the fact it haunts his dreams whenever the anniversary of that date approaches on the calendar.

He is simple-minded but brilliant, having been accepted into Toudai's prestigious school of mathematics with a near-perfect score on his entrance examination. Ever the studious one, Kosuke fretted over his one missed solution to a lengthy trick question on the examination for several days until he understood the solution.

While things seemed to be going quite well for him after finishing his first year at Toudai, tragedy struck. His parents, his only family that he knew, were killed in a mysterious fire that leveled his only home to the ground. The official story was that a gas leak sparked an explosion that destroyed the home with his parents still inside, asleep in their beds.

Kosuke was forced to leave Toudai and return to Fuyuki city to set his parents' affairs in order. Without financial support, Kosuke could not return to college, and regrettably, there was not enough left over in their pensions to subsidize his tuition. Instead, Kosuke took a full time job at a medium-sized company in Shinto where his mathematical skills were found to be most useful as an accountant. He has been employed there for roughly one year.

With the dream of returning to Toudai to complete his degree, Kosuke has been diligently saving every last yen he can to pay his own way. While he could afford some luxury with his salary, he instead has chosen to live a meager life to speed his return to college.

He harbors a significant amount of guilt for his life being spared while others around him were injured or killed. This has caused his life to be lived without a specific direction, and he has no major goal in his life.

A/N: Well, here's a switch for me, going away from what I normally write and having an attempt at something that will obviously be quite difficult. Regardless, I'm up for the challenge. This is merely the beginning, and there's still a LOT of explaining to do about what the hell is going on in this story, but stick with me and I'll show you all something that will be grand, I believe. Drop a line via comment and let me know what you all think!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own anything that belongs to TYPE-MOON...however, any original characters are mine. Do not steal, or face certain doom from an angry, and quite hungry, Saber.

Fate/Dawn Arising

Chapter 2: Day One – Impossible

INTERLUDE - Arrival

She dropped her luggage unceremoniously to the floor, flicking a stray strand of her very long dark hair that was tickling her nose away from her face, and harrumphed. Traveling did not agree with her in the least. With the exhausting jet lag from flying between continents, it tended to take her several days to recover. Sleeping in a vehicle travelling over 1000 kilometers per hour even under the safest of conditions was impossible for her to even fathom. Even worse, at least in her eyes, no matter how much she prepared for any sort of trip, she ended up forgetting something important.

This trip in particular was on extremely short notice. The call from her Japanese informant came in not three hours before she was on the next flight from London. She barely had the time to leave a message for her superiors that she would be taking a leave of absence on personal business. She was sure, however, once the Magic Association caught wind of the situation in Japan, she would have a lot to answer for. But she would cross that bridge when she came to it.

If what she was told was true, something impossible was occurring in her hometown. There was no way it could be happening again. The Great Grail was dismantled for good after the last battle, and proof of that fact was shown to the warring families. She witnessed it with her own eyes.

The evidence to the contrary, however, was impossible to ignore. Much like the beginning of the war five years prior, mysterious disappearances and murders began to take place in Fuyuki, and she dispatched a subordinate to watch over the town and report to her the goings on. After all, she was still the caretaker of the land there, and if the destruction of the Great Grail was indeed an elaborate hoax, and a new war was beginning, it was her duty as the head of the Tohsaka family to participate in the battle.

However, she had no indication of receiving a Command Spell like five years ago. It was entirely possible that the Grail decided if there were no member of the Tohsaka family present in Fuyuki at the appropriate time, it would choose another magus to complete the ritual.

According to her informant, there were already six Servants summoned. But it was not too late. The final part in the play had yet to be cast. But even after arriving at her estate, she felt no change in her magical energy level. It seemed she had been bypassed after all. But there was no time to fret over something she had no control over. She still had duties to perform as caretaker of Fuyuki.

Her first task: discover the identity of the final Master. If the Grail bypassed the Tohsaka family representative, the replacement was likely a lesser magus that would be easily defeated and killed by another established Master before that person knew what was happening. Even if this war had nothing to do with her, that was something she could not bear to see happen.

Apparently, that guy and his "hero" attitude rubbed off onto her more than she realized.

INTERLUDE OUT

The constant, annoying buzzing from my alarm clock jolts me back to consciousness. I reach out with a weary hand and slam it down recklessly onto the button that shuts the infernal contraption off.

Rolling over in my futon, I rub at my already aching head. As expected, my sleep was haunted once again by that terrible nightmare, and I tossed and turned for the better part of the night. It's strange that even though I'm so familiar with that dream that I could narrate it in full on command, it still so deeply affects me.

I rub at my eyes when a violent pain assaults my left hand. I clutch at it with my opposing hand, but that only serves to make the pain worse. Upon inspection, it appears to be deeply bruised from the wrist to the knuckle of the middle finger, as if it were struck with a heavy, blunt object. That's weird. I don't recall anything of the sort that would have caused such a wound.

The ticking of the alarm clock next to my head pulls my mind back onto more important matters: namely getting myself ready for an oh-so-joyous Saturday of work. With so few people in the office today, this was definitely not the day to be late. The last thing I needed was a chewing out from my vile monster of a boss. I think I might flip out and kick him in the head if something like that happened.

With a forlorn sigh, I pull myself upright and roll up the futon, placing it in the closet. After relieving myself, eating a meager breakfast, a quick shower and donning a fresh set of clothes, I was out the door and on my way.

Halfway to the train station, as if on queue, my cell phone begins to buzz in my pocket. Fishing it out of my pocket, I take a quick glance at the caller id and roll my eyes. As expected when I'm already on my way. What does Sakamoto want me to do this time? Flipping the phone open, I answer, "Yes, this is Kosuke."

"I'm glad I caught you before you got here. This way I don't have to send you back out on an errand," Sakamoto responds in a fiendishly gleeful voice.

Well, good morning to you too, I think of saying. But I doubt he would appreciate my sarcasm. "What can I do for you, sir?" I ask, gritting my teeth against all hope.

"Pick up some refreshments for us," Sakamoto plainly orders me without a hint of appreciation. "Stop by that coffee shop on the corner near the train station and get some coffee for everyone."

"Yes, sir," I reply dejectedly. He immediately hangs up without so much as a simple thank you. I scoff and return my phone to my pocket. Even though I know it's pointless to even consider the idea, I wonder idly if I'll be compensated for such a noble deed.

At least the train ride is leisurely. I didn't have to cram myself into an overcrowded cabin for once. Looking around me, I noticed that most of the other passengers on the train at this hour were other salarymen looking just as demoralized as I for having to drag themselves from their beauty sleep on such a beautiful Saturday. As selfish as it seems, seeing their downcast faces makes me feel a little better about my own situation. At least I am not alone in my torture.

A short stop in the coffee shop nearby my office siphoned the last of the contents of my wallet, much to my chagrin. Even worse, the seven cups of coffee I was currently carrying in two rickety cup holders made the trip from the coffee shop to my office, which would have been an easy stroll under normal circumstances, precarious. The streets were not as packed as they would have been on a weekday, but there were still many businesses in the area that operated during the weekends, mine included. Thus, there were still many people on the street that I needed to completely avoid bumping into, lest I end up with steaming hot coffee all over my one good suit and no leisure money for next week, either.

As expected, my toils were thankless. "It's about time. Put mine on my desk," my devil of a boss ordered me once I stepped from the elevator. Putting the thought of dumping all seven of the cups over his head aside, I gently placed the cup holders onto my desk, not failing to notice the three large stacks of paperwork on my desk. I forcefully suppressed the groan trying to escape my throat from the sight of the enormous amount of work waiting for my attention as I pulled out what I guessed was the coldest of the seven coffees from its holder.

As I walked across the hallway towards Sakamoto's office, I glanced side-to-side, taking in all of the listless faces mindlessly pounding away as their keyboards. I smile inwardly, taking in my guilty pleasure from seeing their zombie-like appearance. Call me callous or cold-hearted; I enjoy not being the only one suffering in such a manner.

"Coffee is on my desk, everyone," I say, my voice completely devoid of energy. When I return to my desk after dropping off Sakamoto's coffee like a loyal lackey, I find that there is twice the amount of work waiting for me on my desk then just a moment ago.

"We're one short," Sakamoto explains to me as he pauses by my desk, his tone full of icy venom.

"Aren't there five other people that could help finish this? It would go a lot faster that way," I say, trying in vain to bargain with the devil.

"Everyone else has enough work to do," Sakamoto replies dismissively as he reaches down and retrieves a second cup of coffee for himself. Goddamn it, I paid for that, I should be the one to drink it!

Shouldering me with the lion's share of work, Sakamoto saunters back towards his office, no doubt wearing a smug smile on his face. I swear, the day I don't need this job, that guy is going to end up with a broken nose.

Well, at least I won't be bored to tears waiting for quitting time to roll around. I stand up and peek over my cubicle wall to greet my only friend in this godforsaken place, only to find an empty desk chair.

It was unlike Shouji to miss work at all, much less when Sakamoto ordered him to come in. In fact, I cannot recall the last time he ever called out. And he sounded so sure that he was coming in yesterday. Something must have come up, I suppose, but I don't care what his excuse is. Since I'm doing all of his work, he's going to catch hell from me come Monday.

With the sales and support personnel out of the office, the only sounds permeating through the empty halls were the sounds of typing fingers and the occasional cough or sneeze for a seemingly endless amount of time. It was tranquil despite the whirlwind spiraling in my cubicle as I worked as quickly as possible. I wanted to enjoy at least a few hours of my Saturday evening.

Time is fickle, however. It tends to go against the grain of what you would like it to do. Checking my watch after clearing through roughly half of my work, it read half past two. Damn. At this rate, I would not finish until at least seven. Have I said before that I hate this job?

My work dragged on while the sun quickly made its way to the western-facing windows. Seven hours without even taking time for lunch. I forced myself to ignore the growing hunger pangs until they eventually stopped. As the old saying goes, no pain no gain. However, to me it seemed the two were almost inversely proportional when it came to work.

By sunset, there were merely a handful of numbers left to transcribe. With a few hasty keystrokes, I let out a tremendous, accomplished sigh. I glanced over at the finished stack of papers, marveling how I was able to complete in one day what it would have taken three normal people two days to finish. I suppose if I truly set my mind on something, I'm somehow able to accomplish even tremendous feats.

I silently power down my computer, hoping to sneak out while that bastard Sakamoto was likely wacking off in his office, but as I stood and reached for my jacket, I felt someone looming over my shoulder. It seemed he finished the deed sooner than I expected.

"Where do you think you're going?" Sakamoto grumpily asked.

"Home," I replied simply. I was far too tired to try to argue with him.

Sakamoto eyeballed the two stacks of completed work on my desk then harrumphed in disdain. "All of that had better be accurate, or you're going to find yourself doing it all over again."

"It's correct," I answered. I wasn't making up an excuse to leave early. All of my work was impeccable. When it comes to math, after all, I consider myself a perfectionist, perhaps even to a fault. "I even corrected a few errors the computer made."

Sakamoto chuckled, which to me was never a good sign. He was never impressed by others' work; especially mine, since it was devilishly accurate. He enjoyed browbeating his employees for even the slightest infraction in his or her work, but he could not do so against me. Instead he found subversive tactics more useful. For me, it was running errands for him like some sort of unpaid intern. And whenever he laughed like that, I knew it was because he had thought of something else for me to do.

"Is there anything else?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.

"You might be able to leave now, but the rest of us are stuck here until the remainder of the work is done," Sakamoto stated, sporting a crooked smile that would make you want to kick him in the groin.

How is that my problem? I wanted to ask this question, but the fear of not having a stable paycheck every other week forced me to keep my lips sealed.

"Do us all a favor and get some food for us, won't you?"

This was, of course, not a request, but an absolute order. I nodded my head unquestioningly. What was the point? I needed something to eat as well. I could stop in my favorite place, eat what I wanted, order to-go for everyone else, take it back to the office, and still get home before 9 pm. "I'll need your corporate card. I don't have any money left after this morning."

Sakamoto smirked, reveling in the thought of me being broke thanks to him. I seriously detest this guy. If he dropped dead right in front of me, I don't think I would give a single damn in the world. He pulls out the credit card used for company purchases and dangles it before me. As I reach to take from him, he pulls it away like it was a carrot on a stick. "Now, this is for food only, and I want a receipt for anything you buy," he says, talking to me like a child.

Squinting my eyes, I snatch away the card from him and turn to leave. I'll bet if I spent about twenty minutes researching, I would discover that Sakamoto has been leeching hundreds of thousands of yen from the company through the very same card I now held in my hand, and yet he has the gall to talk to me like I don't value the company I work for.

Seriously, Sakamoto, just drop dead already…

Stepping outside was certainly a breath of fresh air, both literally and figuratively. There was a harsher nip in the air this evening than was normal for an early February evening, and a small shudder passes through me when I swing open the exit and am greeted with a blast of frigid air.

Gazing up into the sky as I walk, brushing shoulders with passersby, I notice there is not a single cloud marring the last inkling of twilight, and the moon shone with its full brilliance as it rose slowly into the depths of the midnight blue; the night was hauntingly beautiful. It seemed as the goddess of the moon was wailing plaintively through the vacuum of space to her Earthy lover, her voice sweeping through the air with a stiff, cold breeze. Lowering my gaze, I trudge onwards towards my destination, which, thankfully, was only a handful of minutes away from the office.

Perhaps I have cheap taste. Or maybe I just felt guilty about using the corporate credit card for something as silly as food. My best guess? This beef bowl shop has the very best udon noodles money can buy. It was a simple, family-owned establishment, but the simplicity of the sign outside the door advertising the restaurant's daily specials only made it more attractive to me when I first noticed the place on my way to the station from work that day those many months ago.

"Welcome, welcome!" the middle-aged man greeted me with characteristic flair when I opened the door to the tiny-looking store and entered. "Oh, Kosuke-kun! What brings you here so late, and on a Saturday to boot?"

Shedding my jacket and draping it over my usual chair, I reply, "Good evening, Takamichi-san. Nose to the grindstone, as usual." If someone were to ask me, no, I am not embarrassed that I am on a first-name basis with the proprietor of this place: a man in his mid-forties with a balding pate and the kindest of smiles. He's a simple man, yes, but unlike in other people that will remain nameless, this gentleman is actually courteous and respectful. Plus, I am the closest thing to a "regular" patron he's likely ever had. "How's business been lately?" I ask as I take my seat in the booth facing the owner.

"Pretty decent actually," Takamichi tells me as he wipes his hands with a cloth affixed to his dirty white apron. "We had a few people pop in that I hadn't seen before, so new customers are always good. It had gotten slow about an hour ago though. Hasn't been a soul in here since sundown."

It made sense, being in the middle of the commercial district after working hours on a weekend. What surprised me more was that Takamichi insisted on keeping the place open during these late hours. "Well, that's…par for the course isn't it?" I ask.

Takamichi laughed merrily at me, as he usually did when I made any sort of halfway witty comment. I swear this guy must be hard up for some good comedy. But I fear if he heard a decent joke he might just drop over dead from laughing. "I take it you'll be having your usual?" he asked, turning his back to me and firing up a burner on his stainless steel stovetop.

"You know me far too well, Takamichi-san," I reply.

The weather, traffic, work, women…we share an inane discussion as per usual. I tell him about how much I detest my boss. He suggests I work for him in his restaurant. I tell him thanks, but that's never going to happen. We've probably had this back-and-forth over a hundred times now. But I'll be honest: it never gets old.

"Here you go," Takamichi places a steaming hot bowl in front of me.

Turning the bowl in circles with my hands, I inhale the rich aroma of the noodles, beef and vegetables. "Smells divine as usual. Oh, before I forget, I need five more of these to-go," I tell him before picking up the chopsticks resting upon the lip of the bowl.

Takamichi's face lights up in surprise. "Oh, living the high-life this weekend, are we?"

Taking the credit card from my pocket, I slide it across the table towards the shop owner. "I guess you could say that," I offer in reply, giving him a quick wink.

"So he has you doing his grunt work even after all this time, huh?" Takamichi asks with a frown as he picks up the card from the table.

I shrug my shoulders as I continue to eat. It doesn't really bother me too much, and I got a free meal for my trouble, so I suppose I came out ahead. By the time I finish with my bowl, Takamichi has the remainder of the order boxed up and ready to go. "Prompt as always."

"Only for my favorite customers," Takamichi replies with his trademark warm smile.

After donning my coat once more, I lift the bag of freshly prepared food from the table and pocket the card used for payment. I promise Takamichi I'll stop in next week and set out back towards my work building. Even after being insulated with a belly full of warm food, the chill in the outside air was even more piercing, if that were even possible. Even more strangely, the streets were utterly barren, and I was the only soul around as far as I could see.

Approaching the door to the building, a tingle runs down my spine. It feels as though I am being watched. Something snaps behind me, and I whirl about, looking intently at a tree swaying after a particularly strong gust of wind. A puff of white fog escapes my lips as I breath a hefty sigh of relief, and I enter the building as quickly as possible. I want to get home as soon as possible.

The feeling does not fade as I pass through the empty foyer to the elevator. Something is still watching me. Even when I enter the elevator and slap the close door button, I still feel something…evil in the pit of my stomach. Perhaps Takamichi used some beef in his bowls a few days past its expiration date? No…this visceral feeling is not from something I ate. Something is seriously wrong, but I can't rightly put a finger on it.

The elevator opens on my company's floor, and I take two steps out before my eyes drown in a sea of red. The bag loosens from my grip and falls to the floor, dumping its contents onto the blood-splattered carpet. I struggle to breathe, apprehensively inhaling the sharp tang of death. I've tasted this air before…once…five years ago.

The bodies of my co-workers litter the floor, with bits of hair, bone fragments and grey matter strewn about everywhere. The pool of blood oozing from the large wounds that pierced through their skulls slowly seeps across the floor, slowly approaching my feet, as I stand bolted to the floor, caged in fear. My eyes dance quickly from one corpse to another, looking for any sign of movement from any of the victims. There is not a single sign of life.

On the far end of the office, I notice that Sakamoto's office was still illuminated, and I could barely make out the sleeve of his business suit as he sat in his chair. Forcing myself to keep my eyes level, I run past the lifeless bodies lying in front of me, dashing towards Sakamoto.

I stop dead in my tracks several paces from the door. My boss had fared no better than the rest. The fact that half of his head adorned the back wall of his office confirmed this. My constitution falters, and I curl over and empty the contents of my stomach onto the bloodstained carpet.

I am surrounded by death…I've been here before…I've felt these feelings before…I can't handle this…its too much…everything is spinning, and I'm losing feeling in my legs.

"Who are you?" a voice suddenly asks from behind me.

Finding my strength again, I turn to face the attacker, certain of my death after being taken by surprise. A young woman with extremely long black hair stares back at me with piercing sea blue eyes. She is wearing a thick winter jacket whose color matched the stains on the floor and black slacks. Her hands are at her sides, and though my eyes dart about her frantically, I do not see any weapons in her hands. "W-what happened here?" I croak.

The woman's eyes narrow to slits, and she takes a threatening step in my direction. "Why don't you tell me?" she responds.

I shake my head in a panic. "I didn't do this!"

The woman's features soften, and she relaxes her stance. "No, I suppose not. No human could have done this."

"What are you talking about?" I ask the woman. She walks quickly towards me, and I can't shake a sudden feeling of familiarity with this person now that I've relaxed somewhat and I can take a better look at her.

"Show me your hands," she says, stopping in front of me and placing her hands on her hips.

"What?"

"I said, show me your hands," she barks, grabbing both of my wrists with amazing strength, yanking them towards her.

I wince, suddenly noticing an intense burning sensation in my right hand. The woman takes notice of the pain striking my face, and she turns my right hand over. Her eyes widen when she looks at it. "As I thought. Where is your Servant?" Her hand tightens around my wrist when she asks that ridiculous question with a threatening tone; so much so that it begins to hurt. How the hell is this girl so damn strong?

"What are you talking about? I don't have any servants!" I bark back, trying to pull my aching hand away from the young woman.

She releases my hand suddenly, and I nearly trip backwards onto my rear end from the shock. "So, it's as I suspected. Who are you? What is your name?"

I straighten up and shake out my tingling hands. "I should be asking you that. I've never seen you around here before."

The girl frets momentarily before recovering. "Very well. I will tell you my name, but first, it is of utmost importance that we leave this place right away. Whoever is responsible for this massacre is still watching over this place. We must leave before whomever it was strikes again."

"You mean he's here?" I ask quietly, looking around in terror.

The woman shakes her head in reply. "This was done from somewhere outside the building. Look." She points towards the exterior windows, and I see that several of the large panes of glass have been broken. There are several small holes in each, about the size of a golf ball.

"You mean they've all been shot? From where?" My head is spinning at this point. The smell of death, as well as my own fear, is mixing together in my brain, poisoning my senses.

The woman shakes her head at me and grabs the sleeve of my jacket. "It'll take too long to explain here. We need to get out of here, now." She takes off, pulling me along. Avoiding the elevator, she throws open the door to the stairwell and leaps down the stairs three or four at a time. I can barely keep up with her, and I could have sworn I heard her muttering something to herself as she ran down the stairs.

We finally make it to the bottom floor, and amazingly, it seems she is not even winded from running down twenty flights of stairs without stopping. "Come on," she calmly tells me, heading towards the rear of the building. I follow behind her, honestly not knowing what to expect at this point. If some monster leapt out from the next corner and tried to eat me alive, I don't think it would surprise me at this point.

We leave the building via an emergency exit, a swirling gust of blustery wind kissing our faces when the door is thrown open. An expensive-looking car has been parked in the alleyway between the building and its adjacent partner. "Get in," the mystery woman orders me, pointing at the passenger side door.

I comply with her order, climbing into the plush leather seat. I look out through the front and rear windows, seeing if we had been followed, but there was no movement I could notice other than the dark-haired woman who quickly entered through the opposite door of the vehicle. She pulled a set of keys from her jacked pocket and turned the ignition over. "Seatbelt, please," she said, clicking her own into place.

She puts the car into gear and speeds off with utter disregard for any pedestrians that might step into our path. "Whoa there," I say, grabbing onto the dashboard for support. "Be careful, will you?" The woman ignores me, turning the corner onto the main road with death-defying speed, rocketing towards the bridge to Fuyuki City. "Where are we going anyway?"

"My home. We'll be safe there for now," was her simple reply.

Safe from what, I wonder silently. Now that I don't feel like I'm going to die within the next ten seconds, I look about the vehicle, noting just now posh it was. Obviously, whoever this girl was, she was quite well off. Speaking of which… "So, what's your name, anyway?"

"My name is Rin Tohsaka."

Where have I heard this name before?

* * *

A/N: The mess hits the fan, but the first night is far from over. Next time, the seventh Servant is summoned, old bonds are remade, and new ones, though frail, begin to form.


	3. Chapter 3

Fate/Dawn Arising

Chapter 3: Zero Hour – Servant Saber

A whistle escapes from my lips as I step through the over sized ornate mahogany door and into the home of Rin Tohsaka. After seeing the outside of the home, with its spacious courtyard, immaculately manicured flowerbeds and garden, I did not think I could be impressed more with the place. I was wrong.

Marble tile flooring, luxurious shag carpeting, one, no, two tremendous fireplaces, granite counter tops, oak cabinetry, leather furniture; no expense had been spared. "I heard rumors about some of the western houses on this side of town being pretty nice, but this," I pause, shaking my head, "This is unbelievable."

The girl that owns the place closes the front door, throws the deadbolt into the locked position and quickly removes her coat. "Forgive me for being a rude hostess, but we don't have the time for me to give you the twenty-five cent tour of the place."

I turn to face Rin, who is looking at me with an expression as cold as death. Her icy stare belies my memories of this girl.

_**Twenty minutes earlier**_

"My name is Rin Tohsaka," she says to me, keeping her eyes focused on the road in front of us, and within the span of a second, I remember exactly how I know her.

"I'm sorry what?" she asks me. I must have exclaimed "eureka" or something of the sort, but I don't remember exactly what I said, embarrassing as it is.

"I knew that I recognized you from somewhere," I reply sheepishly, silently wishing that I could sink away from view into my leather seat.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" she asks accusingly, stealing a glance at me at every opportunity, despite the fact we continue to rocket down a very public road in the pitch black of night.

Lacking the courage to admit that I had a crush on her once upon a time, as did the majority of the student body, I decide to keep things simple. "We went to the same high school. I was one year below you."

Considering the way she's looking at me right now, I can tell she still believes me to be highly suspect. "What's your name?" she asks with that bossy tone she used in the office complex.

"Kosuke Fukuya," I answer her immediately. It's amusing how quickly I've learned to respond to her. It's as though I'm an animal in one of Pavlov's famous conditioning experiments.

Her demeanor becomes pensive for a few moments as she weaves around the bending road ahead. "I'm sure you don't remember me at all. I don't think we ever spoke."

"Ah, I remember now," she suddenly cuts in, smiling broadly. "Class 1-A and 2-D."

Bingo.

"How?" I ask, but she quickly cuts in.

"That's not important right now. What's more important is that we get out of sight as soon as possible. There's no telling how far that Servant can reach."

I know before I even ask that my question is going to sound stupid to Rin, but I have to ask it anyway. "And how are we going to be any safer at your place than anywhere else if that guy can shoot through skyscrapers? Besides that, shouldn't we be contacting the police?"

"Wow, you really don't know anything," Rin says matter-of-factly, shaking her head slightly.

"I'd understand a lot more if you'd just tell me what the hell is going on here," I reply angrily. Perhaps I still have a bit of a spine after all.

"Look, I understand your frustration, but you're just going to have to trust me. We can't contact the police. The only thing we can do right now is keep you safe so you can…" Her voice trails off.

"So I can what?" I ask softly. I'm getting a sinking suspicion that I'm not going to like her reply.

"I'll explain everything I can to you when we get there."

And now we stand in the middle of her living room, as she's glaring at me as though we were lovers and she'd caught me with another woman. I can't decide which is more ludicrous: actually dating Rin, or, if I were, cheating on her.

"I am a magus," she says calmly. "Just like you."

Wait, what?

"I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" I ask, clearing out my ear.

Rin gives me a little smirk and slowly raises her hand, pointing her index finger towards the ceiling. In the span of a breath, a small, dark orb of crackling energy spins into existence, resting motionless on the tip of her forefinger. "Tell me what you see."

The breath is stolen from my lungs by the sight before me, so much so that I have to remember to breathe before I pass out. "Ma-…ma-…"

"That's right," Rin replies as she lowers her finger at my chest. "This is magic."

As though it were fired from a rifle, the dark ball of energy at Rin's fingertip shoots from her hand, and before I could even blink, the ball buries itself into my ribcage. In the first moment after I am struck, I feel nothing, but suddenly I am overwhelmed with an overpowering feeling of nausea that sends me reeling.

The world spins around me, and I lose feeling in my extremities. I want to vomit. I feel like I am dying. I would rather die than experience this pain.

"Release."

As quickly as the pain wracked my defenseless body, with a single word from Rin's mouth, the overwhelming feeling within my body vanishes without a trace. I become aware that I am on my knees, clutching my hands over my mouth. I did not even realize that I had left my feet. I lower my hands and look up at Rin, who squats down in front of me.

"Sorry about that, but a demonstration is a lot quicker than trying to explain everything to you in detail." She reaches out with her hand and helps me to my feet.

"What did you do to me?" I ask, shaking out the cobwebs in my head.

"Gandr shot. It's a simple spell that will incapacitate anyone that is not a magus. Even though you are a complete newbie, you managed to remain conscious, so I guess that means you have at least some potential as a magus."

Coughing a few times to clear my throat, I respond, "So you were just testing me?"

"That's right."

I let out a spiteful chuckle in response. "Isn't there a more elegant method you could have used, instead?"

"Sorry, but a curse is the most direct method to use. We don't have the time to run the whole gamut on you right now."

"Since when could you…" my voice trails off. I still can't bring myself to say that word.

"We are born with this ability," she replies, then begins to chuckle as if she'd remembered something funny. "Well, for the most part, that is."

"But how were you able to tell I am a m-magus…when I didn't even know myself?" I ask, struggling to utter the word that should not be used to describe a person outside of a book or a movie.

"Your left hand," Rin replies simply. I glance down as she continues, "You might not have noticed with all the commotion at your workplace."

My eyes must be bulging out of my head at this point. Engraved onto the back of my left hand, from wrist to knuckle, is some sort of tattoo the likes of which I've never seen before. I could only describe it as two swirls of wind whirling about the handle of a shepherd's crook. It was a deep red; the color of blood, and it seemed to glow with an unseen light, as though radioactive material was used to create the ink. I poked and prodded at it for a few moments, and it remained stationary on my hand even if I pinched my skin. Whatever it was, it was buried underneath the surface of my hand.

Rin walked towards me as she slowly and methodically explained. "That is what is known as a Command Spell. It is a very special magical artifact that signifies you as a Master."

My bulging eyes squint as I look up at the woman who is standing directly in front of me. Command spell? Master? Where should I begin with all of the nonsense spouting from this girl's mouth? "A master of what?" I ask.

"If I tell you, it will only serve to confuse you even more. It would be better to just show you," Rin says to me, as she turns and moves deeper into her home. "Come with me."

What was I going to do, say no, ask to leave, and run away? There was no chance of that happening, if there really was someone out there trying to kill me. Would she even let me leave if I wanted to? Considering she could fell me with just a single one of those gan…gan-thing-a-ma-jigs, I wouldn't get far if I decided to make like a bandit.

I follow the woman she walks through a very long hallway, listening to the sound of her heels striking the marble floor echo off of the walls. She passes several ornate-looking doors on either side of us until she comes to a halt before a door tucked into the corner on the opposite side of the mansion.

Yup, just what I was afraid of: a long stone staircase leading down into a seemingly endless darkness. I might have known. As if being invited into a dark basement with a self-described witch wasn't disconcerting enough, what sort of evil weapons of olde does she have down there waiting for me? A torture rack? An iron maiden?

"What are you doing?" the sound of her voice breaks through the silence and scares the ever-living crap out of me. "Come on, let's go. There isn't much time."

Time for what, I wanted to ask, but my voice was stolen from my throat. I let out a sigh of resignation and followed Rin into the impending darkness.

A musty smell invades my nostrils as I pass through the portal and take two steps down into the unknown abyss. Obviously, whatever lay down there had not been used in quite some time. I cannot see anything past my outstretched hands, so I am forced to follow Rin solely by the sounds her shoes make when they make contact with the steps. Eventually, that too goes away, and after taking a couple of panicked steps, I run right into the back of the young woman in front of me, catching a whiff of her hair and the fragrant shampoo she must have used earlier today. Strawberry, I think.

"Hey, watch it!" Rin barks at me while I recover my balance.

"Why the heck did you stop?" I counter.

With a soft chuckle, she replies, "Oh, sorry. I guess you wouldn't be able to see in here after all, would you?"

"Of course not. You expect me to be able to see in the pitch dark?"

"No, not without magic."

There she went with that magic thing again. It was a good thing she had not decided to turn around and look at the heavy frown I wore on my face. Not that I completely disbelieve everything she had told me upstairs, but how was I supposed to suddenly believe in a completely new world of magic?

Rin began to speak again, but I would not understand a single word of what she spoke. What language is this, German? Had she lost it? While I considered backing out of this before I got further involved with someone who was obviously out of her mind, a brilliant azure light sprang up in front of Rin, illuminating a stone and mortar wall that blocked our path further into the darkness.

Perhaps I am the one losing it now, as I watch the wall slowly vanish to nothingness, revealing more of the staircase spiraling downward. "What was that?" I ask, unable to contain my curiosity.

"I never thought that I would need to use this place again," Rin remarked, ignoring my question completely as she continued down the stairs.

There was some sort of light coming from the depths below. I could not see much, but using my hands to brace myself against the walls on either side of me, I was able to slowly make my way down. Another twenty steps, and the staircase finally came to an end. What was revealed before me was unlike anything I might have imagined.

A pair of gold-chased braziers on either side of us, each sporting a hazy blue flame, illuminated the short hallway leading to an archway fifteen feet from the base of the stairs. While the hall was wide, the ceiling was low; it's stone walls cold and barren.

I followed Rin as she moved deliberately past the arch, and I now stood in an expansive room that was easily several times larger than my apartment. There were many more braziers like the ones in the hallway behind us, all of them emitting a dull yet merry magical flame. There were several commodities one would see in a less expensive dwelling: Some old bookshelves filled to near bursting with books of all manners of size and thickness, a desk with naught but a vial of ink with a quill resting on it, and even a cheap looking cot for sleeping. All of these items were tucked in one side of the room, right up against the walls. For some reason, the rest of the huge room was left completely empty. Even the floor was unfurnished. A tiny sigh of relief escapes my lips when I see nothing resembling a torture rack.

"Nice place," I say quietly, my voice echoing off the stone in every direction. "Where are we, exactly?"

Rin turns to face me for the first time since we starting moving from the foyer upstairs. "This is my workshop," she says plainly, without any fanfare.

"Doesn't seem like there's much in here to do any work with," I reply, gazing up and down at the steel-gray walls around us.

"Looks can be deceiving," Rin replies with a hint of a smirk on her face. She lifts her hand, and with a flick of her wrist, the braziers' magical light flared in intensity, changing colors from blue to a deep red more consistent with natural fire. As a consequence, the room was now much brighter than before.

Something on the floor caught my eye, and I gazed down at my feet. Everywhere on the floor in the middle of the room were translucent markings of various shapes, sizes, and colors that ebbed and flowed with some unknown light source. Some were small and with little detail. Others were tremendously large, stretching nearly from one end of the room to the other, with detailed inscriptions in some foreign language I could not understand.

Strangely, somewhere within the depths of my mind, I recognized these patterns. I could not explain how or why, but…

"These are," Rin begins.

"Summoning circles," I finish.

Rin tilts her head at me and lets out a soft hum. "Yeah, that's right. Only a magus would be able to see the remnants of the magic used in these circles as well. But how did you know what they were?"

I shrug my shoulders. I don't understand it myself, nor even if I did could I rightly explain it. I just know. Maybe she's right. Perhaps I really am a magus.

"Well, that settles it, then," Rin says, turning and walking to one of the many bookshelves tucked into one of the corners of the workshop. I move to stand next to her as she taps her long fingernail on her index finger against her upper teeth as she scans the shelves. "Now let's see here. Where did I leave it?"

"What are you looking for, now?" I ask out of interest. All of the titles are in German. I can't make a lick of sense out of anything that's on the shelves.

"Summoning Arts, obviously," Rin replies, as though it was something I should have known from the start. "Ah, here we are." Rin squats down and pulls an innocuous-looking slender book from the bottom row of the last of the bookshelves. "Here."

I look down at the book Rin is holding out to me. "What are you giving this to me for?" I ask as I take it from her. Looking at the cover, it was obvious the book had seen better days. The hardback was worn and faded, and the edges were frayed. However, the binding still appeared to be in good shape. Still, flipping through the pages of scribbles and diagrams, I notice the book is written entirely in German. What I was looking at might as well have been nothing but nonsense.

"For you to study, naturally. You've got a summoning to perform."

A sinking feeling washes over me, hitting directly in the pit of my stomach. "This doesn't have anything to do with this whole Master and Servant thing, does it?" I ask.

I know the answer before her lips parted to respond. I remain stoic, looking down at the book in my hand as Rin replies, "Yes."

The sound of the heavy sigh escaping between my teeth echoes in the workshop, and I wonder exactly what in the hell had I gotten myself in to. In the span of just a couple of hours, my co-workers have all been murdered by some unknown gunman, I've met with an old high school acquaintance, who happens to be some sort of magician who told me that I, too, am a magician.

If that were not surreal enough, the one responsible for killing my co-workers was one of these Servants…in that case, that means a Master was ultimately responsible for the killings…and that must mean…

"Wait a second here," I say, holding my empty hand up. "There's something I need to get straight here. You said that a Servant killed all those people, right?" Rin nodded her head silently. "Then that must mean that…oh God."

I was the intended target. This realization sends a wave of nausea through my stomach, and I have to swallow back the bile threatening to fly from my mouth. I begin to lose my sense of equilibrium, and thankfully, Rin catches me before I fall to the ground and likely smack my head upon the stone floor.

"Get a hold of yourself," Rin says, pulling at my limp body to keep me standing.

"That son of a bitch…he saved my life," I say out loud, chuckling from the irony. I must be losing it to find any of this funny. How many times had I wished that insufferable bastard dead? And his last act was responsible for saving my life, even though it cost him his own. I couldn't feel guiltier if I wanted to.

"Come on, stand up, will you?" Rin growled, yanking on my necktie to grab my attention. She pulls my head down so I am looking directly into her eyes. "You might be alive right now, but if you don't listen to me and do exactly as I tell you, you won't make it through tomorrow! So get your shit together, now!" Rearing back with her free hand, Rin yanks on my tie while she slaps me across the face.

An explosion of pain shoots through the right side of my face, and the sound of flesh striking flesh echoes in the room for several seconds before fading to silence. I can only look in shock at the girl I once thought demure glaring at me with an angered expression. She loosed her grip on me, softened her face and said, "How's that, feeling any better?"

It played out exactly like a scene from a movie, but I never thought something like that would be effective in a real life situation. I was wrong. The pain ebbed in my cheek, but my head was clear and focused. I nod my head as I shift my jaw and rub my aching cheek.

"Come on, we've got work to do."

Rin sat me at the desk in the far corner of the room and ordered me to open the book she handed off to me. She flipped through the pages, trying to find something specific within the jumbled mess of scribbles and drawings, eventually stopping on a page near the back of the book. "Memorize this," she said, pointing at what was likely the most complex of all of the writing in the entire book. It was a veritable wall of text, none of which I could make out. Was German the official language of magecraft or something?

Looking up at my "sensei", I replied, "And how exactly do I do that, considering I can't understand a single word of German?"

Rin sighed heavily and hanged her head, realizing her mistake. "Why did he have to be a complete newbie?" she said quietly, but plenty loud enough for me to hear clearly. Looking at my disturbed face, she apologized. "Don't worry, it's not your fault. Give me a couple minutes and I'll get this translated for you."

Rin and I switched positions, and she pulled a sheet of old looking paper from one of the drawers on the desk and dragged the vial of ink and quill closer to her. True to her word, within a few minutes of my pacing about the room, Rin said, "Alright, I'm finished here."

"Already? That seemed like quite a bit to write," I replied, moving back to the desk chair after Rin stood up. Looking at the paper, which was filled top to bottom with the translation, was written in perfect Japanese calligraphy. How she had managed to write this so quickly and with expert precision using a quill was astounding.

"Is that good enough?" she asked. Her tone of voice told me I had better answer in the positive.

"Of course, thanks."

"Okay," Rin said, and I turned my attention back to her. "We've got one hour. You need to memorize every word on this paper down to the very last syllable. You cannot afford to mess this up. Do you understand?"

Looking back at the paper, though there was a lot of verbiage, it should not be something I am unable to handle. I nod my head. "Got it."

"In the meantime, I'm going to prepare the summoning circle for you. I won't be able to do much in terms of supplying the prana you're going to need to complete the summoning, but in a room this size I'll be able to come up with something detailed enough to make up for what you lack in…skill. So don't concern yourself over what I'm doing. Just worry about committing this to memory," she concluded, tapping her finger upon her writing.

I nod again. "Understood."

"Alright, get to it."

The moment I begin to study the rather long summoning spell, Rin wordlessly leaves the room and heads back to the house. For a few minutes, I feel unnerved at the thought of being left alone in such a lifeless place. It feels like something is watching me from the shadows, and the silence is deafening.

Breathing a heavy sigh, I begin to read the magical incantation aloud, trying to distract myself from my environment by listening to the sound of my own voice. The words on the spell are archaic and somewhat nonsensical at points, but there is a mantra hidden in the spell. Even though I am a complete neophyte to this sort of thing, even I can feel power within these phrases.

After fifteen minutes of chanting over and over, I hear footfalls coming from the hallway behind me. I stop speaking and turn around. Rin walks through the arch, carrying a felt crimson drawstring pouch. "Like I said before, don't mind me. Keep it up."

Even though she said that, I can't help but feel a bit embarrassed. After all, I've been botching it all over the place, and the last thing I need is the distraction of her constantly correcting me. "Won't that distract you from what you're doing?" I ask, trying to hide my own discomfort.

Rin approaches the desk and places the pouch on the desk. I can hear the rattling of stones from within the pouch as they settled onto the wooden surface. "No. If anything, it will help me."

"How so?" I ask as I watch Rin open the pouch and fish around inside of it with her hand.

"Hearing your voice will help me to focus," Rin replies as she pulls what looked like several pieces of chalk from the red pouch as well as a folded up sheet of weathered paper. Looking at my blushing face, she adds, "There's power within the words of that spell that will help a magus focus."

"Oh," I return, looking back at the writing in front of me in embarrassment. "You know I'm going to mess this up while I practice it, right? Isn't that going to make things worse?"

Rin shakes her head. "As long as you don't mess it up during the real thing, there's no danger in making mistakes during practice. Just use whatever method suits you best."

Fair enough. Though the first several minutes of my practice while Rin went about her work I was apprehensive about using my full voice to recite the ritual, soon enough, I was practically belting it out so loudly the sound of my voice reverberated throughout the room.

After Rin was approximately half done crafting the enormous summoning circle, I felt confident that I could recite the words from memory on command. With nothing else better to do, I relaxed in my chair and watched as she went about her work. She was meticulous, taking as much time as was needed to make sure every portion of the circle was completed with perfect precision.

Now that I had the chance to really take her in with my eyes, she was every bit as beautiful as I remembered. No, that's not true. If anything, she was even more beautiful than the imagery of my mind's eye. The passage of time added upon her the allure of maturity, and each movement she made as she drew the elaborate markings on the floor was elegant and ladylike.

Pausing to brush her hair away from her face, she happened to glance towards me. Caught red-handed, I tried to look away, but Rin asked anyway, "What are you staring at?" She looked down at herself to make sure nothing was showing from underneath her blouse.

"Oh, I was just admiring your work," I lied. I had stopped paying any attention to the summoning circle she was crafting with the magically enchanted chalk in the red pouch ten minutes ago, and it was not as if I was just going to tell her that I was admiring, well, _her._

Pulling her body up to sit on her legs, Rin pointed at the desk I sat in. "Would you mind bringing me the pouch, please?" she asked.

Complying instantly, I stood and brought the red pouch to her. She must have expected me to return to the desk, as she gave me a puzzled look when I squatted down next her. "Is it okay if I watch what you're doing?" I ask.

"It's not that I mind, but," Rin paused, cleared her throat to catch my attention and glanced sideways at me as she fumbled through the pouch with her right hand, glancing up and down at me in an exaggerated fashion.

"Oh, sorry," I reply, backing away from the girl, giving her space to do her work.

Shaking her head and sighing rather boorishly, she pulled another long piece of the enchanted chalk from the pouch, moved back down to the floor, keeping her body upright with her left hand on the floor as she drew with her right hand, using the old sheet of paper with the intended diagram of the circle drawn on it for reference.

Within the span of another twenty minutes, the circle was completed, and Rin and I stood with aching knees and stepped back to get a good look at the complete picture. I marveled at the work, while Rin walked about the room, peering at the circle from every angle to make doubly sure there was no flaw in the detail of the design.

"Perfect. Everything is in order then," Rin said, walking back towards me. "Are you prepared?"

I could not help but get some butterflies in my stomach as I was about to be put to the test. Swallowing back my fear, I nod my head in the positive.

"Alright, recite the incantation one more time for me," Rin ordered me.

Closing my eyes to concentrate on what I had practiced, I recited the words. When I finished, I opened my eyes and saw Rin wearing a smug smile of satisfaction on her face. "All right then. It's time."

I stood in the very middle of the room, feeling extremely naked and vulnerable standing in such a large room alone. I looked around my feet at the complex diagram underneath me as though I were looking for loose change that fell from my pocket. I can't help but feel fidgety, considering the last words of instruction Rin left for me before leaving the room.

"_Be sure to recite the words properly. Even the slightest mistake could cause a severe reaction," she said._

"_Reaction? What do you mean by a reaction?"_

"_Well, the summoned Servant could turn on you and kill you, or the summoning might fail catastrophically. In that case, the magical energy could run through your body and end up vaporizing your body."_

_I laughed to hide the obviousness of my fear. "You've got to be kidding me, right?"_

_The lack of reaction from the dark-haired woman did nothing to calm my nerves. "Just close your eyes and concentrate on something before you begin the spell."_

"_Like what?" I asked._

"_It doesn't matter what you think about, just focus on just one thing. It will help steady your thoughts."_

_I nodded in reply._

"_When the summoning is completed, the Servant's first action is to establish a contract with his Master. Make sure you do this, or you may lose control of the Servant."_

_Despite the fact none of what Rin was saying at the time made any sense to me at all whatsoever, I could do nothing except nod my head like a compliant animal._

"_Good luck," Rin said as she turned around to leave._

"_Wait, where are you going?" I asked, my voice raised half an octave from normal._

"_Sorry, but this is something you're going to have to do on your own. Having another magus in the vicinity of the summoning is…dangerous."_

With my heart pounding resoundingly in my chest, so much so that I might have heard the sound of the organ pumping blood through my body echoing off of the walls around me, I take a deep breath, and empty the contents of my lungs slowly.

I am reminded of something my father always used to tell me. The thing is, though I was considered by many to be a genius in school, in truth, I was scared to death of tests. Fearful that I would make a simple mistake such as forgetting to sign my name or accidentally transposing the answers on a multiple-choice test, I was a nervous wreck in the days leading up to exams. The fact that I was expected to be able to ace anything put in front of me only made things worse.

Anyway, Dad always said that whenever he felt overwhelmed by something, he always closed his eyes, took several deep breaths, and visualized the outcome of the task laid before him, instead of worrying about the task itself. He shared his trade secret with me after I nearly had a nervous breakdown entering my high school entrance exams.

It worked without fail. I obtained a score in the top one percent in mathematics using this technique, and it helped me earn my entrance into Toudai.

This situation was no different. Standing in this dry basement, the task laid before me, though it may cost me my life, was the same as any of those nerve-wracking tests I had taken those many years ago.

Closing my eyes, I recall Rin mentioning that my servant is one that is called Saber. A saber…a fencing weapon…a curved blade used by infantrymen and cavalry…an ornate sword lying at my feet, the property of a proud knight kneeling before me, swearing his allegiance and loyalty to me. A guardian, a protector, this is how I envision my Servant.

The raging storm in my heart is now nothing but a memory. Everything is as still as the waters of a lake before the rising of the sun in the east. I hear nothing except the sound of my own breath, and feel nothing except the rise and fall of my chest as I inhale and exhale.

With my goal firmly in my mind, my lips part, and I begin the spell:

_I call upon the mighty Throne_

_To the seated Heroes of auld_

_Listen to my Call_

_Come forwardly Bold_

_The Prize beckons ye_

_To the realm of Man_

_If ye should be Valiant_

_Accept thy Master's hand_

_Cast off thine Crown_

_And raise thy Blade_

_Become my Fate_

_The Contract be made_

_I surrender my Soul_

_And offer my Breath_

_To become thy Shield_

_Serve me until Death_

The poetic portion of the spell completed flawlessly, I can feel abnormal warmth flowing through the very blood in my veins. Something is moving underneath my skin, pouring what feels like raw energy into my bones. It is a calm and peaceful feeling, yet I am unable to revel in it, as the summoning stands merely half-finished. Should I lose my focus now, well, I'd rather not think about the consequences.

I raise my voice and speak loudly and clearly, with each word increasing the amount of heat flowing through my body:

_I proclaim unto Thee_

_Thy Body shall be under my Command_

_My Fate shall be under thy Sword_

_Heed the beckoning of the Holy Grail_

_If thee shall obey this reason_

_Answer my calling_

My body feels as though molten lead is being transfused into my veins, and through my closed eyes, instead of darkness, a blue light assaults my eyelids. Despite the painful burning coursing through me, I remain calm and focused. Indeed, the power of this spell to calm the body and mind was extremely powerful.

The mercury continues to rise feverishly as I continue:

_Offer me thy oath_

_I shall becometh all Virtue_

_I shall slayeth all Evil_

_Thou art the Seven Heavens_

_Clad in Three Great Words_

_Break the chains of thy Bondage_

_O' Guardian of Balance_

As soon as the final word passes my lips, the built up power surging like a tempest through me and everywhere around me shatters, and a blinding azure light fills the room, forcing me to cover my eyes with my forearm. I grit my teeth, expecting the worst, but the light slowly fades without further incident.

The first thing I notice as I slowly lower my arm from my face that my body suddenly felt heavy, as though the very essence of my energy had been forcibly drained from me. It was an incredible fatigue, as though I had been awake for three full days without a wink of sleep. My vision was hazy, and I could barely stand, but even in my absurdly weary state, I instantly recognized the person that stood before me in that empty basement.

I had expected to be looking up at the tall, proud warrior I summoned, but instead, I was looking down at my summoned Servant. Blond hair tied in a chignon, crystalline jade eyes, wearing a blue dress underneath a silver, rune-covered breastplate with steel gauntlets and leg protection.

I've never seen this face before, but the ensemble the knight wore was unmistakable. The Servant's lips are moving, but I hear nothing. I have been drawn into the farthest reaches of my five-year-old nightmare, unable to pull myself from this waking dream. In a panic, I instantly fall to my knees and cover my mouth to keep from loosing the contents of my stomach upon the metal boots of the knight.

My senses overwhelmed, the last image that passed my sight before I embrace the encroaching darkness is a crimson eye leering at me from behind the knight, intent on cutting my helpless body asunder.


	4. Chapter 4

Fate/Dawn Arising

Chapter 4: Day 1 – Something Precious

Leaning back against tree that held her dying body upright, the King exhaled a sigh of relief, the last of her work completed. Having finally come to terms with her life, she could finally relax. After countless battles, victories and defeats, losses and gains, her only regret was that she would never again see the face of the man she had fallen in love with.

"Shirou," she whispered aloud, "I'll be waiting right here for you."

Her vision clouded, her consciousness faded, and she waited for death's embrace…

Until she felt her body lurched forward as though she were given a tremendous shove from behind. The warrior knew exactly what this meant, so her reaction was not one of surprise, but puzzlement. For a third time, she would be denied the death she had forever longed for, and once again she would be called to battle for something she no longer had any desire to obtain.

Magical energy was infused into the King as she was transmogrified into a Heroic Spirit. Her fatal wounds were sealed in an instant, and incredible strength surged through her every nerve. Idle thoughts swirled through her head during this process, as though being summoned to a different time and space were as common as the rise and fall of the sun. Who was going to be her master this time, what time period she would be transported to, and what perils would befall her this time?

She hoped, though the idea coming to fruition was likely impossible, that she would repeat the last iteration of the battle, for she longed more than anything to see that man's face…just one more time.

"Shirou," she exclaimed as soon as her armored feet touched the ground, her heart overcoming her sensibility. Alas, it was not Shirou standing before the Servant, but a man whom she did not recognize. As was her custom, she looked the man in his eyes, feeling outwardly with her newfound magical energy to judge if the man before her was her new Master.

This process was interrupted, however, when the man began to back away from the Servant with his arms outstretched towards her, his visage as though she were a monster. "Master?" She called out to him, taking a single step forward.

Shrieking manically, the man stumbled and fell to his knees, covering his mouth with his hands. "What's the matter with you? Hey!" The warrior continued to call out to panic-stricken man. Muttering some incoherent words as he began to hyperventilate, the man's eyes rolled back into his head and he fell forward, slumping to the stone floor with a dull thud.

Looking about for any signs of danger in the unfamiliar room and finding none, Saber moved immediately to the man's side as she dispersed her magical armor. Rolling the man over, she breathed a tiny sigh of relief when she saw that the man was still breathing, and appeared to have simply lost consciousness. "What have I gotten into this time?" she asked quietly.

Sensing an unknown presence from behind with her uncanny ability to notice danger, Saber stood and whirled about to face her assailant, her magical armor reforming about her body in the blink of an eye. Her expression and her aggressive stance softened, however, when her eyes met a familiar face.

"Saber?" the woman standing in the archway asked with trepidation, looking at the warrior standing over her Master's body as though she was staring into the eyes of a ghost.

"Hello, Rin."

* * *

It's the worst feeling in the world; when I am asleep and a sudden falling sensation, as though the very earth were removed underneath me, jolts me awake. Even worse, when that happens and I bolt upright only to find I am in some foreign room I can't recognize, I feel as though my heart is about to burst from my chest in a panic.

Nothing looks familiar! Where am I? What happened to me? Wasn't everything that happened before just a dream? Someone please come in and tell me that it was.

Digging my nails into my forearm, the pain confirms that indeed, the four-post bed I was lying in was very real. I begin to calm down as I absorb the environment with my eyes.

I was in a large, Western styled bedroom. At least, it was a large bedroom to me. The walls were covered in rich, floral-patterned wallpaper, the floor with thick shag carpeting. A mahogany chest of drawers with a mirror rested against one wall, an expensive-looking chaise lounge in another. Faint red sunlight was peeking into the room through the lush drapery covering a huge window on the wall opposite the bed. Whether the sun had just rose or was about to set, I could not be sure.

That's right, I remember now, I'm in Rin's house. But how did I get here from the basement? Don't tell me she carried me all the way to…wherever the heck this is.

In the world of chaos I found myself in, one thing was for certain: I needed a bathroom, and fast. Throwing off the down comforter covering me, I rolled off the king-sized bed and padded across the floor towards the single door in the room. Reaching for the doorknob, I see that my arm is covered with a striped shirt, rather than my white dress shirt I had been wearing before I collapsed. Looking down at myself, I notice that my clothes have been changed, and I'm now wearing a set of men's pajamas.

Who could have done this, I thought, and I can feel my face heating up as I recall there was only one person who could have possibly been responsible. "That's embarrassing," I tell the door before pulling the portal open.

Out of the frying pan, and into a maze of doors. A long, wide hallway lay before me, with many doors on either side. A groan escapes my lips. I've got to take a leak so bad I can taste it, and now I have to go on a quest to find a bathroom? A more devious part of my brain considered relieving myself in the vase sitting on a small table with a large bouquet of flowers in it.

Not gonna chance it. There's no telling what Rin would do to me if she caught me doing such a thing. Where the hell was she, anyway? Not that I was expecting her to be by my bedside the whole time I was unconscious, but is it too much to ask to leave a note?

Luckily, the very first door I happened upon was a full washroom, complete with a bath large enough for at least two people, a marble double sink, and of course, the toilet I so desperately required.

Having a moment in which to pause and ponder over the happenings of the previous day (at least, I hoped it was only the next day, and not some inordinate amount of time), I thought about everything that happened and how in the hell I ended up where I am. The cold-blooded murders of all of my co-workers; was I really the intended target? How could I possibly live with myself knowing that I was at least partially responsible for their deaths? How could anyone carry such a burden?

And about my former schoolmate, Rin Tohsaka. Where does she fit into all of this? Why was she in my office in the first place? Only a crazy person would even consider waltzing in to the scene of a brutal massacre, and she did it seemingly without a second thought. I recall she said she was some sort of caretaker. What in the hell does that even mean? If everything she's said to me is true, why is she going out of her way to try to protect someone she doesn't even know? What does she stand to gain from protecting a marked man?

The existence of magic…if anyone had told me prior to yesterday's events that there were people out there capable of conjuring fire from their bare hands, or making an object move with naught but a flick of their wrists, I would have laughed in his face. My skepticism and doubts remained, but I couldn't deny the events of the previous evening. If I am truly able to use some form of these abilities, where did this latent talent of mine come from? Is it something one is born with, or is it only something that can be taught?

I'm beginning to get a headache from all of this. Any answer I can think of only results in two more questions, and the only thing I can conclude for certain is that Rin Tohsaka has a hell of a lot of explaining to do.

After washing my hands and face, I feel much better than I did just a few scant minutes ago. Taking a glance at myself in the elegantly framed mirror above the sink, I give a curt laugh at my bedraggled hair. Trying to comb it over with my hands did nothing to improve my appearance. I was a beautiful mess.

Just like my life.

The only thing to do now is to find the one responsible. Finding the stairs leading down to the foyer was a simple task in itself, and when I take my first step onto the cold marble staircase, a wonderful smell assaults my nostrils. My stomach growls in response, reminding me that it has been at least half a day since my last meal. My nose points me directly to my objective.

Beyond the door in front of me was obviously the kitchen, as I could hear the telltale symphony of pots being stirred and the sizzle and snap of something frying in a pan. I can not tell exactly what the dishes were based on smell alone, but the fragrance tells me that whatever it is, it's going to be delicious.

As I reach out to push the door open, muffled voices from beyond the portal cause me to hesitate. Unable to make out what is being said, I shuffle closer to the door and press my ear against it. What the hell am I doing? I'm acting like an adolescent sneaking around the house at night trying to not get caught by his parents.

"Hold, Rin. Someone is at the door."

I snap back to an upright position. What the hell? Is someone else here? Beyond that, how did that person know I was there? And why on earth am I still standing here like an idiot?

Trying to act as casually as possible, I give two soft knocks on the door before opening it. "Excuse me," I say politely as I step in the kitchen. The smell in the room is by an order of magnitude more powerful, and my stomach replies in kind with another sharp growl. Shut up, damn you! Walking around some rich girl's house in this get-up is embarrassing enough!

Before I could take a second step into the kitchen, I was halted by a beautiful young woman standing directly in my path, looking up at me, with her arms akimbo, with a look my mother might have given me whenever I had gotten into trouble as a small child.

Wearing a long-sleeved white blouse tied off at the neck with a blue ribbon that matched perfectly with her knee-length skirt of the exact same color, a pair of black stockings completed her ensemble. I might have thought her a foreign exchange student from a local high school, but the way she stared at me like a teacher about to reprimand me for running through the hallway makes me think twice about my assertion.

She had her blond hair tied back and…wait a minute, I've seen this scowling face before. My memory is hazy, and I can't recall exactly what happened, but…what happened when I finished the summoning ritual? This girl…who is she?

"Why were you eavesdropping on our conversation, Master?" the girl sternly speaks to me, her unwavering eyes boring holes through my own. Her voice is smooth and polished, like a veteran politician giving an important stump speech. And more surprisingly, her Japanese is utterly flawless. And what did she call me?

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" I answer with a question of my own, looking down at the lithe woman who was trying to appear as imposing as possible despite her tiny frame.

"Ah, Fukuya-kun. Good evening."

I turn my attention to the owner of the second voice that greeted me while the blond girl continued to stare at me like she was trying to start a fight. If I had been surprised before, now my jaw might as well have hit the floor. Rin stood across the kitchen, tending to the delicious smelling food cooking on the gas-powered stainless steel stovetop. She wore a cute, pink apron above clothing similar to the ones she wore the last time I saw her. I'm surprised at how girlish she appears, when last night she seemed anything but. And boy, she sure does love to wear red, doesn't she?

"Good evening," I reply timidly, feeling the pressure from two attractive females staring at me in my current state of dress. So it is evening, after all, but how many days have passed?

"You might want to properly meet your Servant. Your life is going to be in her hands from here on out, you know," Rin said in an off-the-cuff manner while she stirred the contents of a saucepan with a wooden spoon. The glance she gave me after stating this, however, seemed a strong word of warning that I should do as she told.

Wait just a minute now. This tiny girl standing in front of me, looking like she could be no older than, what, fourteen or fifteen, was the best I could muster after all our effort? Outside of having a strong pair of eyes, what good could a little girl like this do in a real fight? How could she possibly manage to protect me when it seemed the situation should be reversed? Obviously, the girl does not like the expression on my face right now, as she begins to glower at me.

In a hasty attempt to defuse the situation, I give the girl my name and greet her properly in as polite a manner I could muster. She is not impressed, as she shifts her weight and folds her arms over her chest. She tilts her head to one side as she says darkly, "You do not think very highly of me, do you?"

"I told you so," Rin remarks with a sly grin without halting her task.

Told her what, exactly, I wondered, but there was no time to dwell on that. This was getting out of hand. Quickly shifting my attention between Rin and the woman in front of me, I told my hands out in front of my body and wave them about. "No, it's not that," I say in a panic. "You just aren't what I was expecting."

Oh boy, I shouldn't have said that. Now she looks seriously pissed off. "You believe me incapable of fighting on your behalf." Her tone implied a statement rather than a question. I'd be lying if I said that I didn't agree with her, though. As I feel it improper to say such a thing, I simply stand there in silence.

"Very well, then," the woman says softly as she begins to turn her back to me.

I don't rightly remember what happened in the moment after that.

All I know is that one second I'm standing, and in the next I'm lying on my back with the wind knocked out of my chest, my equilibrium shot to hell, and I couldn't tell up from down. The blond woman is kneeling above me, pressing her knee painfully into my chest and looking at me with a strangely peaceful smile on her face.

I'll never forget the way she looked directly into my eyes, or the words she so eloquently spoke to me:

"Servant Saber has arrived as summoned. I shall be your blade, and your fate shall be with me. To you I swear an oath that I shall protect you with all of my strength until my dying breath. With this, Master, our contract is established."

* * *

While I nurse my aching neck with a borrowed bag of frozen peas, Rin graciously places a plate of steaming food on the table directly in front of me. The aroma wafting from this plate might be the only thing able to make me forget about the pain and embarrassment from what happened just a few short minutes ago.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

The girl who called herself Saber is the next to receive her plate, which was, to my surprise, filled with even more food than my own. She makes no outward response that would indicate something was amiss about the mountain of food on her plate. If anything, the smile adorning her face grows yet wider, her visage as though everything is right with the world.

"Thank you very much, Rin."

"I've been working on my Japanese dishes recently," Rin replies to the Servant. "I hope you'll find this to your liking."

"If the aroma of these dishes are any indication, I am certain that they are absolutely delicious."

Something is strange about this whole thing. These girls are awfully chummy for having just met. "Do you two know each other?" I inquire, pointing a finger at one and then the other.

Rin chuckles as she sits in her place at the table and scoots her chair in. "I suppose some explanation is in order here."

She could say that again. "Yes, please," I reply eagerly.

Rin proceeds to tell me everything. She speaks of magic and why it should remain secret from the non-magic society; a wholly different world operating right under the noses of the ignorant masses. There are those gifted at birth with the ability to harness this power at a level others simply cannot. Rin was blessed with such a gift, able to use all sorts of different disciplines. She suspects I'm capable of the same, given the successful summoning of Saber the night before.

I remain skeptical about this. "I really didn't do anything other than what you told me to do," I argue.

Rin nods with the softest of smiles playing across her face. "That only confirms my suspicions even more." Turning her attention to Saber, who is greedily consuming the overflowing contents of her plate with incredible speed, Rin quips, "That's too bad for you, though, Saber. Yet again you've been summoned by an illegitimate Master."

Pausing to swallow the food in her mouth politely before replying, Saber says with a shake of her head, "I do not believe Kosuke can be considered illegitimate."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I am receiving the normal flow of magical energy from him that I would receive from any other skilled Master. Moreover, my combat abilities more closely resemble the abilities I had when I was the Servant of Kiritsugu Emiya."

Rin seems impressed, as she's looking at me with a smug grin on her face. This girl obviously likes to be proven right. "See?"

I shake my head, nonplussed. "I didn't understand a word of anything either of you two just said."

Rin explains more to me, but what she tells me sounds like the plot of a manga. The Holy Grail War. Masters and Servants fighting to the death, and only one will remain at the end of the battle. By the time she's finished talking, I've lost whatever appetite I might have had.

"You're lucky though," Rin says, gesturing towards Saber with a flourish. "Your Heroic Spirit was the victor of the previous two Wars, so despite the fact you know exactly nil about being a magus, the odds tip into your favor to come out of this thing alive."

How could anything about this situation I find myself embroiled in be considered good luck? "Heroic Spirit?" I ask.

Rin explains about the seven classes of Servants: The warrior classes of Saber, Archer, Lancer and Rider. The magician, Caster. The silent and deadly Assassin. And finally, the Mad One, Berserker. Each of these classes is represented by a Servant in this battle, each having a Heroic Spirit attributed to his or her class, the embodiment of a legendary hero.

Rin means to tell me that this girl sitting at the table with us, wolfing down food as though she had not eaten in days was the quintessence of a hero of legend? Sure, she was strong as hell, able to take down a man nearly twice her size with no effort, but a hero? Sorry, but I'm not buying it.

"You don't have any idea who she is, do you?" Rin asks playfully in response to my disbelief. "You probably won't believe me when I tell you, anyway."

I'm glad at least one of us is having fun with this. Saber, on the other hand, is not amused in the slightest. She stops wolfing down her food and stares at me with her most intense look yet, made amusing by the fact she had grains of rice sticking to her cheeks from eating so fast.

"I'm sorry, I really don't have a clue," I reply, trying to keep from laughing out loud.

"Arturia Pendragon," Saber says. "Daughter of Uther Pendragon, King of Britain."

With a few smoothly spoken words, the smile is wiped from my face. Something about this name sounds familiar…

Reading the inquisitive expression on my face, Rin rolled her eyes and filled in the blanks for me. "King Arthur."

Now I think I've finally lost it, and I start to laugh uncontrollably. This has got to be some kind of a sick joke. I look around the room, as though a bunch of people with handheld cameras were about to burst into the room and tell me this was all an elaborate prank. "You've got to be kidding me, right? Joan of Arc would have at least been somewhat believable. But King Arthur? She's not even the right sex!"

"Are you finished?" Rin says with a straight face as I continue to laugh.

I'm not laughing any more.

"Do not worry yourself, Rin. I would have found it strange had he believed who I am from the start." Saber's voice is calm, and she is completely unfazed. "It is not as though the ramblings of one unfamiliar with history could interfere with my sovereignty."

Damn this woman knows how to push my buttons. "Wait a second here. You mean to tell me that all of those people that wrote stories about Arthur had it all wrong?"

"Not all wrong, no."

"Come on, you know what I mean. About your…" my voice trails off. For crying out loud, don't make me say it.

"Yes."

"You pulled the sword from the stone?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"Because I was the rightful heir to the throne."

"This really doesn't make any sense."

"Think about it, Fukuya-kun," Rin interrupts. "Do you think the people of that time would have united under the banner of a woman? Of course they had to hide the fact Arthur was a young girl. They probably would have revolted otherwise."

If I were to turn the chessboard around and assume what these two ladies were telling me was true, it made at least a little bit of sense, especially after considering Rin's hypothesis. "Suppose you're right, and you really are King Arthur. Does that mean you really married another woman?"

"Marrying Guinevere was essential for the kingdom to survive."

Not even a moment's hesitation…

My head hurts, and I pinch the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger. What had begun as surreal had since delved into the territory of sheer madness.

"The question we should be asking is how you managed to summon this Heroic Spirit specifically," Rin said.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"The summoning ritual requires that in order to obtain the services of a specific Heroic Spirit, you must have in your possession a relic somehow tied to that person when he or she once lived. Otherwise, the Heroic Spirit summoned will be one that is most suited for your personality."

"I believe we can rule out the latter," Saber says almost immediately. I want to be mad at her for that, but I can't honestly disagree with her sentiment.

"So I have something that ties me to King Arthur? But that can't be possible," I reply. "I don't have any family heirlooms or anything like that with me."

"Well, what's most important is that you've got yourself an awesome Servant," Rin says.

So she says, but I wouldn't know this Saber, or Arturia, from Eve. I'll just have to take her word for it, I suppose. What else am I supposed to do?

"Something still bothers me though," Rin said, her tone much more serious than before. "The Holy Grail, originally a device that would grant any wish the victor of the War desires, was corrupted and eventually dismantled after the last battle five years ago. I witnessed this myself, so it's hard to believe Lord El-Melloi II could have fabricated the evidence."

"What does that mean?" I ask.

"It means that I have no idea who or what is behind any of this. Whatever ideas we might have had about what to expect this time might as well get chucked out with the trash. We're on our own."

Lovely…

"What should we do?" Saber inquires. It appears she's finished eating, though whether or not this was by choice I could not be certain. There was not even a speck of food left in front of her.

"We need to bring in more help. Fukuya-kun is as green as it gets, so he's going to need at least some rudimentary training in order to be able to defend himself properly, and not just magical training either."

I have a bad feeling about this. These girls are starting to talk about me like I'm not in the same room again, and I'm quickly learning that this is never a good sign.

"Physical training as well? I agree. Though it may not make a tremendous difference in battle, even a few days' worth of a rigorous training regimen could mean the difference between life and death."

"I know just the guy to help us as well," Rin said, pointing with her chopsticks towards Saber, who perked up in her chair, looking suddenly excited to hear what Rin has to say. "You know him pretty well, I might add, Saber."

"Shirou," Saber stated softly, looking down at the table with what appears to be a touch of trepidation.

"That's right," Rin replies to the Servant. "I should warn you though. He's not quite the same as you might remember."

"What do you mean?" Saber asks.

"It's been five years since you left, and, well…you are just going to have to see for yourself, Saber."

"Not to interrupt or anything, but, uh…what about me?" I ask. I'm starting to feel as though I'm watching a non-interactive movie about my own life. "It's not as though I don't appreciate your hospitality, Rin, but I would like to go home. I don't even have a change of clothes."

"Sorry, but you can't go home," Rin replies flatly.

"What do you mean I can't go home?"

"Nightfall is approaching, Kosuke," Saber interjects. "That is when it is most dangerous to be outside."

"Okay, what about tomorrow then?"

"We'll be heading out to Shirou's place first thing in the morning. We aren't going to have time to make a stop in the city," Rin explains. "I've had your other clothes washed and pressed, so it shouldn't make a difference anyway."

"You don't understand," I begin to say, but Saber cuts me off.

"No, Master, it is you that does not understand. Leaving here tonight would mean placing your life in terrible danger. It is a risk that we can ill afford."

"Everything I have is in that place! My whole life is there!"

"And the enemy knows this," Rin counters. "If they know where you work, then they obviously know where you live, and it would be the first place they would look for you."

"I'm certain you have nothing there that is irreplaceable," Saber adds.

Nothing irreplaceable? What the hell does this woman think she knows about me? How could she say something so crass? Sure, I might not be as well off as most, but I have certain things that matter to me and could not be replaced.

I'm beside myself with anger, and I'm certainly showing it, as Rin tries to calm me down to no avail. "It's just not safe right now," she tries to assure me, but I'm not having any of it.

"Alright, fine," I say, biting my tongue in order to keep from saying anything further. I'm not happy about this, but I know there's nothing else I can say that will sway either of their opinions on the matter.

I'll just have to deal with this myself.

After cleaning up after our meal, Rin directs me to a bathroom downstairs that had my clothes placed on the sink counter, cleaned, pressed and neatly folded.

"There's towels in the cabinet there," she says, pointing to an area behind the bathroom door. "I'm sure you would like to shower."

I nod quietly in reply. As Rin turned to leave, I call out to her. "Thanks a lot."

"No problem," she replies with a smile. "Let me know if you need anything else."

The moment Rin pulls the door shut behind her, I move towards my clothes and fish around in the pockets of my pants until I find my wallet and my phone. After checking the to make sure I had sufficient cash, I use my phone to call the dispatch center of the taxi company I normally use when I need to travel around town where there is no access to a train.

I've no idea what the address is here, but when I mention I am at the Tohsaka residence, the kindly lady on the other end of the line knew exactly where to find me, and she informs me a taxi will arrive within twenty minutes.

I hang up after informing her to instruct the driver to wait outside the premises.

Yeah, what I'm about to do is undoubtedly stupid and practically suicidal. At this very moment in time, however, I honestly don't give a shit. I'm not going to just abandon my home. There is something precious that I refuse to leave behind. I don't expect either Rin or Saber to understand, and that's why I decide to do this on my own.

I reach into the generously sized shower and turn the water on in order to keep appearances. I strip out of the embarrassing attire I had been in and put my own clothes back on, feeling much better after having done so. I must be feeling at least a little bit guilty, as I neatly fold the pajamas and place them where my own clothes had been.

Sneaking out of the house proves to be no simple task, as the halls stretch on and have intersections as though the place were laid out like a maze. I step as softly as possible on the hard floor, listening intently for the sound of any approaching footsteps. All is quiet…strangely quiet. There are only two other people in this large house, but the deathly silence rings in my ears as I approach the exit.

I've made my way out successfully, and as soon as I pull the front door shut, I break into a full sprint, running across the courtyard as quickly as my feet would carry me. The entry gate on the far end of the courtyard was unlocked, so I was able to slip past without effort, thankfully.

The cab was parked on the street just a few meters away from the gate. My escape all but assured, I slow my pace and enter the cab casually. I give the driver my address and we're on our way, and I breath a sigh of relief as we pull away from the property.

* * *

Go in, get what I need, and get out. That was the plan I devised during the half-hour drive back to my place. I make mental notes of certain things that I absolutely cannot forget to take, as there was nothing else better to do other than make small talk with the cabbie about how cold the weather has been lately.

As we pull up to my apartment, I can't help but feel something strange about the surroundings as I look about for any obvious signs of danger before getting out of the car. Despite the fact it's early in the evening on a weekend, not a soul was on the street. "Hey, did something happen around here?"

"What do you mean?" the driver asks me, sounding confused.

"Anything out of the ordinary?"

"Not that I know of."

I would understand if people kept off the streets because of a mass murder in an office building just a few blocks away from here, but the cabbie didn't seem to know anything about it. I guess Rin was right about the Magic Association covering up events of such nature.

"Hey man, I've got other fares I need to get to, so…"

"Oh, sorry," I loose from the grip of my thoughts and hand the driver some bills and step out of the car. I look around as the cab pulls away. There are no signs of life anywhere. Not even a stray cat. "Strange," I say as I turn to walk towards home.

"What's strange, Kosuke?" In front of my door stands a familiar face. A face I could have sworn was not there even five seconds ago.

"Shouji," I exclaim, relieved to see that my co-worker was still alive. "You're all right! Thank goodness."

Shouji chuckles. "Yeah, and you too, it seems."

I can't help but feel as though something's off about this. Why is Shouji acting so laissez-faire when just yesterday everyone he worked with was killed? Wary of this, I ask him, "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you, naturally. I heard that you'd vanished after what happened yesterday, and I assumed the worst."

I have a terrible feeling about this.

"And it seems my assumption was correct."

Taking a step away from Shouji, I ask, "What do you mean?"

Laughing softly, Shouji shakes his head at me. "I think you know perfectly what I mean."

The air grows even more frigid as a shadowy figure appears from behind Shouji, as though stepping out of the darkness into the light. Standing a full head above him, the figure's appearance is obscured by a dark green ghillie suit that covers its body from head to toe. In its hands it clutches to its breast an old, scoped rifle.

"You shouldn't have come here without your Servant, Kosuke," Shouji says menacingly, giving me a wicked grin the likes of which I've never seen cross his face.

"Shouji, you?"

"Surprised? Don't worry, you aren't the only one. Imagine my surprise when I learned that one of my own co-corkers was also a fellow Master." Shouji's voice is cold and haughty.

"You murdered all those people just to get to me?"

Shouji laughs again. "Well, I couldn't just kill you and leave witnesses, now could I?"

"How could you do such a thing?"

"Weren't you the one who told me all those times how much you wished that bastard of a boss would just die?"

"Those were just words, you sick son of a bitch! I would never be able to kill someone like that!"

Shouji glowers at me. "You'd be surprised what you can do with the power of a Servant. Allow me to show you just what a Master is capable of."

The surrounding area grows dark, and the air turns thick as molten glass. I want to turn and run, but I'm unable to budge a muscle. The scent of death reaches my nostrils as Shouji gives his Servant a simple order. "Kill him, Assassin."

The figure behind Shouji, the Servant Assassin, wordlessly raises his rifle and points the muzzle directly at my head. The silent killer pulls the trigger with no hesitation, and a loud bang pierces my ears as a tremendous force knocks me off my feet and onto my back.

"What?" Shouji barks in annoyance.

I look up in confusion, wondering why I am still alive. An armored warrior stands over me, looking at me with a concerned, but relieved expression.

"Saber!"

Turning about to face my attacker, Saber says sternly, "Master, remain where you are."

Thrusting her arms outward, a two-handed sword appears in Saber's hands in a flash of brilliant light that pierces through the gloom. With a blued and gilded hilt, its silvered blade polished to mirror sheen; it is as elegant as it is beautiful, in a manner equal to its owner.

"So this is your Servant, Kosuke?" Shouji asks with amused disdain. "She's nothing more than a little girl with a knife!"

"Stay your tongue, vile cretin!" Saber roars in reply. "If you wish to take my Master's life, you must first cross swords with me!"

Well, perhaps I might have overstated Saber's elegance just a touch…

Shouji laughs maniacally. "As you wish, Saber…"

Both Shouji and Assassin's bodies become transparent, and they vanish into the night air as if they were never there, though the shadows enveloping the area remain.

Scrambling to my feet, I run towards the flank of the knight who just saved my life. "Saber, how did you?"

Loosing one hand from her sword, Saber holds up her hand and glares about, ordering me to be silent. And then I notice it. The smell of something dying lingers in the chilly air. I move closer still to Saber, so that I am less than a pace behind her. "They're still here, aren't they?"

Saber replies with a single, curt nod as she whirls about, curling a free arm around me in order to keep my body positioned at her back. I'm scared halfway out of my wits. My hands are trembling, and my breath stutters. The only keeping me from running for dear life is Saber's gauntlet-covered hand grasping at my arm.

Sensing something from behind, Saber moves with inhuman speed, pushing me to the side and slicing with her sword one-handed at the empty air in one continuous motion. Her blade is a blur, and though it seems to cut through naught but air, it crashes against…something…with a tremendous sound of metal smashing against metal.

Saber instantly interposes herself between the target's direction and me. The knight's instantaneous movement, coupled with the loud clanging sound ringing in my ears, causes me to lose the remaining half of my wits. "What the hell was that?"

"Silence!" Saber orders me, clutching my arm with her free hand to the point of pain as she continues to gaze into the darkness around us.

Just then a short popping sound, like a firecracker detonating somewhere off in the distance, reaches my ears. Was that a gunshot? If so, it had to be from somewhere far away. Does that mean Saber just deflected a bullet with her sword in midair? How is that possible?

"Over here!" Saber exclaims, pushing me aside again as she cuts down another bullet from behind us and assumes a defensive position in front of me.

A few seconds later, I hear another popping sound. How the hell is he firing from so far away in two different directions? Is this the power of a Noble Phantasm?

"I trust this is not all you can do, Assassin," Saber calls out into the night. "This tactic may be useful against a normal person, but you waste your effort against me. I shall not allow you a single strike against me or my Master."

A laugh, cold as the stale air, is heard from behind, and Saber turns around, once again keeping me behind her. Shouji's body manifests back into sight before our eyes, giving mock applause. "I would have expected no less from one of the Saber class."

Saber takes half a step toward the opposing Master, but Shouji waves a finger at her. "Come now, Saber. You might be quick on your feet, but I do not think you have the speed to outrun a bullet. Do you honestly think you can cut me down while protecting your precious Master?"

"Who's to say she can't, Shouji? You just saw with your own eyes that she did it twice," I counter.

Shouji chuckles at me and shakes his head. "Boy, you really are clueless, aren't you? You don't even understand your own Servant's abilities. I should just end this trifling little fight right here and now. If I don't finish you off now, another Master is bound to sooner or later."

"I invite you to try, Master of Assassin," Saber says haughtily, though the caution in her stance belies the confidence of her words. "Or is your Servant too cowardly to show himself?"

Shouji lifts his head to the sky and lets out a belly laugh. "I like this Servant of yours, Kosuke. She's…feisty. I like them when they're feisty." The perverted grin on Shouji's face sends a chill down my spine. "You know as well as I that an Assassin stands no chance in a head-to-head fight against one of the Saber class. Don't take me for an idiot like you do your own Master, woman."

"Then we have reached an impasse," Saber says without lowering her blade a single inch.

"So it would appear," Shouji replies, still wearing that nasty grin. "Although…"

Shouji raises his hand, and a ball of magical fire appears in his palm. "If I can't take your life, I'll just have to take something else, instead." He moves his arm to the side and turns his wrist, pointing the fireball suspended in his hand towards…

"Shouji, no!"

The magical flame is loosed, and it strikes my apartment building, blossoming into a tremendous plume of intense flame that covers the entirety of the front wall.

Thoughts of my parents enter my mind upon the sight. How they met a grisly end while they slept peacefully in their bed. How within the confines of my apartment, they were about to meet the same fate once again.

"Shouji, you son of a bitch!" Only the strength of my Servant could hold me back as something within me snaps. "I'm going to fucking kill you!"

"Master, you must contain yourself!" Saber screams, struggling to keep me in her grasp.

"Like your Servant said, Kosuke," Shouji said, laughing maniacally, "I'd like to see you try. But don't fret. I'll be back to finish what I started. I'll see you soon."

The object of my rage turns around, waves a hand, and disappears into the darkness, the sound of his laugh echoing over the blazing fire.

"Let me go," I yell, pulling my arm free from Saber's steely grip. I break into a run the instant I am freed, though I run not towards my enemy, but to the burning building. Though the entire front of the building is covered in flame, there may yet still be time.

"Kosuke!" Saber calls out, her voice reaching deaf ears.

Braving the magically created flame, I run to my apartment and knock the door from its hinges with a mighty kick. The room is smoky, and the fire has already claimed one half of my belongings. Thankfully, it was not the half I feared.

I fill my lungs with as much fresh air as I can and dive headlong into the intensely hot room. The smoke burns my eyes, and I can barely see anything beyond my outstretched hands. But I am able to find what I am looking for quickly, and I tuck the framed picture of my parents under my jacket and turn to leave.

I'm trapped. Flames cover any avenue of escape. The front entry I came through no more than fifteen seconds ago was already ablaze. The fire approached me from all directions, closing its jaws around its prey.

As I closed my eyes to accept my fate, an incredible blast of cold air blows through the room, taking me off my feet and slamming my back against the only wall not yet in flames.

I collapse in a coughing fit as I look up to see Saber standing amidst the freshly extinguished fire, smoky air swirling about her sword like a tempest. "These flames cannot be extinguished by normal means. Quickly, before it spreads again," she says, holding out her hand to me.

I take her hand as I continue to cough, and she pulls me out of the building with her amazing strength and speed. The night air hits my overheated body as though I had jumped into a cold lake in summer during the heat of the day. Saber releases me a safe distance from the flames as I fall to my hands and knees, coughing the remaining half of my lungs out.

Saber takes a knee in front of me. "Are you alright?"

My coughing fit begins to die down, and I move to a seated position. I reach under my jacket and pull the framed picture out. I breathe a sigh of relief when I see that the picture is undamaged. "I think so," I finally reply to Saber.

We can only watch as the conflagration swallows the whole of my apartment building, taking everything with it.

* * *

A/N: Fourth chapter is now in the books. For those that have come this far, thanks for taking the time to read this story. I'd appreciate any feedback you can provide, so don't hesitate to click the Review button and leave your thoughts/concerns/criticisms regarding this story so far.


	5. Chapter 5

Fate/Dawn Arising

Chapter 5: Day 2 – Reunion and Nightmares

Ten minutes after the surprise attack, Rin arrives at what was left of my apartment complex in a very expensive looking vehicle. She leaps out from the backseat, looking like she's ready for a fight. I might have laughed at how silly a girl with such a tiny frame looked assuming a battle stance like that had the situation been any different.

Once she notices Saber does not have her sword drawn, Rin relaxes from her fighting pose and runs towards us. "Come on, we've got to get out of here as soon as possible," she said to us.

Glancing sidelong at each other, Saber and I nod wordlessly. The three of us pile into the backseat of the car and the driver speeds off without so much as a word. I look back through the rear window, taking one last look at the smoldering building that I once called home as we turn onto a major street and speed away.

* * *

"Have you completely lost control of your senses? After all that time we spent explaining to you how important it is for you to keep your Servant at your side at all times, the first thing you do is gallivant around town at night without telling either of us? You came within a breath of getting killed! Don't you realize that?"

Sitting on the curb of the street miles away from the place of Shouji's attempt on my life, still coughing out the last bit of smoke from within my lungs, I pinch the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger. Rin is so utterly pissed off at me that she had the driver stop the car and told me to get out so she could give me a proper tongue lashing. She has good reasons for it I suppose, but she's been ranting for so long now, she's begun to repeat herself. And to be honest, I'm sick of hearing it.

"I get it, I get it," I reply without looking up at her.

"No, you don't get it," Rin continues despite my plea for her to give it a rest. "You literally have no idea at all what you're in the middle of right now and just how lucky you are to be alive. What you did tonight was the absolute stupidest thing you could have possibly thought to do. And right after we told you it was such a bad idea!"

"I understand, alright? I screwed up," I reply softly as I rise to my feet. Being verbally whipped like this is really starting to piss me off, and I just can't sit still anymore. "But nothing you said before could have prepared me for what I just witnessed back there, all right?" I say loudly, pointing a finger in the direction of the plume of smoke hanging over my former home.

"Kosuke."

Saber calls out my name sternly, but I ignore her. "The one person that I had considered a friend in this godforsaken city turned out to be one that butchered all of my co-workers. And none of them were even involved in this nightmare! He was trying to kill me, and all of those people lost their lives because of it. He torched the only home I had and everything I owned with it!"

I suddenly realize that I'm now pacing back and forth in the middle of the empty street. I have no idea when I started. I just know that I want to run away from everything, even though I know I'll only end up dead by this time tomorrow if I did so.

I laugh out loud at how crazy everything has become in just the last twenty-four hours. It's not funny, but I can't stop laughing. These two women probably think that I've completely lost it, but I don't give a shit anymore. I'm scared, and I feel completely alone.

I stop pacing, and stare down at my soot-covered shoes. "Yesterday, I had hope that my life was leading somewhere," I say, feeling utterly defeated. "And in just one day, I've lost everything I've ever had, and everything I've ever known. The only thing I can hope for now is that I'm not lying dead in a ditch somewhere before this whole thing is over."

I look Rin directly in her eyes. "So believe me when I say that I get it."

I've said my piece, and I'm not in the mood to listen to a response from either of the two women, so I make my way back to the car where the driver is waiting patiently for his mistress to give him orders. I let myself in to the front passenger seat, slam the door shut, lean back against the plush leather seat and cover my burning eyes with my shaking hands.

* * *

The car door slammed shut loudly, causing the magus to flinch. In a futile attempt to cover her embarrassment for being told off, Rin chuckled rather loudly and asked the knight standing beside her, "I guess I went a little bit too far, huh?"

The blade-mistress gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head. "I don't disagree with anything you said."

"Still, I could have been more tactful about it. I scolded him like an owner would yell at a pet for making a mess inside the house. I told him myself that he has no idea what's happening, so how could I possibly blame him for reacting the way he did?"

"He'll be better off this way."

Rin turned from looking at the car to the blond-haired woman. "What makes you think that?"

Saber nodded her head once in the direction of the car. "He needs to learn, one way or the other, the gravity of the situation he's in. You should know as well as anyone, Rin, that mere words cannot express the danger of this battle. This is more than just a fight between Masters and Servants, or swords and magic. This is a battle of wills. Whoever has the strongest will shall live. The others shall perish."

"That's pretty harsh, even for you, Saber."

"Most warriors would resign themselves to defeat when they've lost everything, even to the point of falling on their own swords. They lose all will to continue to live. You saw the look in Kosuke's eyes when he said to you that he understood what you were saying, correct?"

Rin nodded in the affirmative.

"Though he has nothing left worth fighting for, flame burns still in the heart of that man. His will to survive remains strong."

Rin looked back at the car with a pensive expression. The voice of that man's Servant snapped her from her thoughts.

"You said before that he summoned me without use of a relic, is that correct?"

"Yeah, that's right."

Saber looked down at the asphalt. "We are nothing alike, and yet…I feel…something…about him. He still fears his own death"

Rin knew exactly what Saber was referencing. The prana shared between Master and Servant bonded the two in sometimes mysterious ways. It manifested itself sometimes through enhanced combat ability for both Master and Servant, the ability to experience the other's memories, and even experiencing the same thoughts and feelings. But what Saber was talking about an advanced link that usually took time to develop. It had not been 12 hours since Kosuke summoned his Servant. In this, Rin was quite surprised.

"Is that how you knew he would run home?" the inquisitive magician asked.

"I can't say for certain. But now I believe that you were right."

"About what?"

"Kosuke could make a proficient Master after all."

Rin grinned widely. She loved nothing more than to be proven right.

"If he survives long enough," Saber added dourly.

The smile was wiped off the magus' face in an instant as she was starkly reminded of the ever-present danger faced by those with the mantle of Master. "We should go."

Saber agreed. The knight could sense something lingering in the air just beyond the grasp of her superhuman senses, like a thought stuck on the tip of her tongue that she could not verbalize. It would be folly to tempt whatever unknown prying eyes might be loitering around them. And their next destination was one she had been looking forward to ever since it was suggested by her Master's mentor.

"I probably don't need to remind you, but you caught that last bit of what Kosuke said, right?" Rin asked Saber as they made their way back to the car.

"Yes. He knows this other Master."

* * *

A hypnic jerk tears me from my sleep, and I gasp sharply as I find myself in yet another unfamiliar place.

"Hey, wake up," a familiar voice says, "We're here."

I quickly rub the sleep from my eyes and blink as my eyes adjust to my surroundings. Wait, I know this place. I'm still in the car…must have fallen asleep. I shiver as frigid air assaults me from the opened door next to me, as well as the cold stare being given to me by the girl hovering over me.

I glance over at the driver, who continues to stare ahead with a stone-like expression. "Thanks for the lift," I say to him, but he doesn't even respond with a nod. What the hell kind of magic spell does Rin have on this guy?

Letting out a sigh of exasperation, I turn away and pull myself upright from the car and shut the door behind me. As soon as the door slams shut, the driver speeds off.

I look down at our feet and see no luggage of any kind. "You didn't pack anything?" I ask.

"I might have," Rin begins, turning to me with a dirty look on her face, "If someone hadn't run off like a complete imbecile. There was no time to pack."

"Where are we?" I ask, turning away in embarrassment, looking around at the unfamiliar territory in a desperate attempt to change the subject.

"Your new home," Rin replies cryptically, gesturing towards the expansive Eastern-styled property in front of the three of us.

"Nice place. Why are we here again?"

"Did you pay attention to anything at I said at all earlier?" Rin asks in a huff.

"Sorry," I reply, shrugging my shoulders. "Let's just say I've had a bit of a rough night, alright? I don't remember half the stuff the both of you told me."

"We're here to enlist some assistance in this fight," Saber says, her voice half an octave higher than it usually is. If I didn't know any better, she seems a bit nervous. For some reason or another, she's wearing a full length, hooded cloak that she's pulled over her head, concealing her features.

Recalling the conversation back at Rin's house, I exclaim, "Oh, that's right. Erima, wasn't it?"

"Emiya," Rin corrects me and then moves off towards the front door of the property.

"After you," Saber says to me, turning to the side to allow me to pass. Worry is written on her face, more disquieted than when she fought with that other Servant. Is she afraid of an ambush out here in the open? No, that makes no sense. If something were amiss, Rin would not be so off guard as she is right now.

I want to ask her what's wrong, but I doubt she would tell me anyway. I follow Rin, who is waiting at the door with her hands on her hips. "You'd better be on your best behavior, do you understand me?"

What am I, twelve? I smirk at her, to which she turns away in a huff and knocks on the door loudly.

Looking around as we wait patiently for whomever is on the other side of the portal to answer, I notice that the eastern horizon is beginning to show signs of light. The sun will be coming up soon.

A minute passes, and there's no response from beyond the portal. Isn't Rin going to knock on the door again? Is she even sure that this Emiya character is even home? Just as I am about to open my mouth to speak, the door opens, revealing who I would guess is the owner of this place. He's about my height, a few years older than me I would guess, with disheveled, bright hair, and an extremely weary look on his face. Not surprising, considering we just woke the poor sap up before the crack of dawn.

His eyes widen despite his fatigue when he sees the person standing closest to the portal. "Tohsaka," he says, sounding surprised.

"Long time no see, Emiya-kun," Rin replies, her voice more bubbly than I've heard her sound before. There's obviously some history between these two.

"I thought you were in England. What are you doing here?" the man Rin called Emiya asked.

"I was until recently, but something's come up that required my presence here. I assume you know what I'm referring to."

"I've felt some rumblings, but nothing I could confirm myself," Emiya replies, equally cryptic with his language.

"Well, it's true. I've got an illegitimate Master here with me to prove it," Rin says, pointing a thumb back towards me. "He's even greener than you were."

The man standing in the doorway doesn't even look towards me. "But why come to me?"

"Several reasons, not the least of which that his Servant is someone I'm sure you'll recognize," Rin explains, and then turns to the side.

Emiya peers at the cloaked Servant, who reaches up and pulls the hood down from atop her head.

Emiya's eyes meet those of the Servant Saber, and he inhales in a sharp gasp, the color draining from his face momentarily. "Sa-," he tries to speak, but his voice falters. He steps out into the street with us, reaching out towards the knight as though not believing what he is seeing.

"Shirou," Saber calls out to the man standing a full head taller than her with the faintest of smiles on her face.

Hearing the Servant call out his name steals the breath from the man's lungs. He reaches out towards the woman standing perfectly motionless in front of him, but he hesitates, like she was something fragile that would shatter at the slightest touch.

Freeing an arm from her cloak, Saber reaches out and clasps Shirou's outstretched hand with her own. His face puzzles over at her touch. "Saber?" he asks, his voice quivering. I can see moisture forming at the sides of his eyes. He looks like he doesn't believe what he is seeing and feeling, though desperate to believe it all the same.

"I'm here," Saber's reply is simple yet elegant. With her other hand she touches the crying man's cheek, and she wipes away the tears falling from one side of his face with her thumb.

Shirou steps forward and throws his arms around the Servant, hugging her tightly. Though I can't see her very well since the man is so much larger than her, I notice Saber's body stiffen. She is obviously unused to such open displays of affection, and I can't help but chuckle at her predicament.

I look over at Rin to share the joke, but she is looking off in another direction, ignoring the couple.

"I knew…someday…I would see you again," Shirou says between sobs. "I've thought about this every single day since you left. I never stopped thinking about you."

Saber accepts the man's words and his embrace silently. Her attitude towards this man is like a night and day difference from how she treats me. I wonder how she would react if I threw my arms around her like that.

She'd rip them off, most likely.

"Anyway, can we come in? It's not safe out here. You of all people should know this," Rin says. I don't quite have her pegged yet, but she certainly does sound annoyed right now.

Shirou pulls away from Saber, nodding and rubbing his nose with the sleeve of his dirty shirt. "Of course, please, come in."

I don't need to be told twice. The last thing we need is to get ambushed again by some other crazy asshole with a superhuman Servant.

"You still have your Bounded Field set up on your property, right?" Rin asks Shirou as they step inside ahead of me.

"Yes, of course,"

"That's good then. We can breathe a little bit easier now."

"Bounded Field?" I ask Rin.

"Didn't I tell you?" Rin asks, smirking at Shirou.

"It wouldn't hurt you to be responsible and teach him properly, would it?" Shirou replies, shutting the door and locking it once we are all inside.

"Yeah, that's what we're here for. Anyway," Rin finally turns her attention back to me. "A Bounded Field is like a magical boundary that separates a specific area from the outside environment. There are limitless applications, but in this case, there's a Field around this property that will alert us should there be anyone that tries to break in and attack us."

"Alert us how?"

"You'll know if it happens," Shirou answers my question for Rin.

"So what if the enemy knew there was one of these Bounded Fields here? Couldn't they bypass it somehow?"

Shirou and Rin share a curt laugh together. "Yeah, you were right, Rin."

I really wish they would cut that out. How am I supposed to learn if I don't ask questions about things I don't understand?

"That won't be possible," Rin replies flatly. "The Bounded Field around this place was formed by a first-rate magus. It is completely undetectable."

My curiosity sated for now, I step further in to the living room, admiring the simplicity of its modest trappings: a Japanese-style rectangular dining table with an empty flower vase in the middle with one pillow on the floor on each side, a television that would look more at home in the 1980's sitting atop a tiny table, and bare walls. This is much more my type of place than Rin's mansion.

Curiously, Saber, having removed her cloak, has already taken a seat, sitting Japanese style on one of the pillows, resting her arms on the dining table as though it was only natural for her. She seemed to be waiting for something, like a patron at a restaurant waiting to be served.

"Oh, Saber, are you hungry? I can fix something up for you if you want," Shirou says, looking excited.

"That sounds lovely," Rin answers for Saber, sitting on the pillow to the Servant's right-hand side. "You must be hungry as well, Fukuya-kun."

"Uh, yeah, I am actually. Thanks a lot, Emiya-san."

"Oh, please, just call me Shirou."

"Okay, then, thanks a lot, Shirou."

I take a seat across from Saber, but as my mind traces back to the harsh words I said earlier, I find myself unable to make eye contact with her, or Rin. As I study my soot-stained hands, Rin decides to help Shirou with breakfast, leaving me along with my Servant who is sitting still as a statue.

I'm not one to make conversation, but after what happened tonight, I just can't stay silent. "Sorry about before," I apologize to Saber, keeping my head down. "I still don't know what to think about all of this, but the fact remains that you saved my life tonight, so thank you."

"I do not ask for thanks, Kosuke. I only ask that you do not attempt something so foolish ever again."

I cringe at her gentle words. "To be honest, I didn't trust you. This Holy Grail War, Servants and Masters, fighting to the death, it still all seems so surreal. I just don't know what to think about anything right now."

"Regardless of what you believe, I will not stray from your side. Even if you do not trust me, so long as you have the Command Seals, I shall remain as your sword."

"Command Seals? You mean this?" I turn the palm of my left hand inward, showing Saber the crimson tattoo engraved on my left hand.

"Yes. These markings are the symbols that manifest our contract, and give you three absolute orders that I am bound to follow. Being a member of one of the three Great Families, Rin would be able to tell you much more about the Seals than I could."

"I see," I say, retracting my hand, though I'm still rather confused about the idea of 'absolute orders'. I'll just have to ask Rin about it later. "So is it true that you participated in the last two of these Wars?"

Saber nods wordlessly.

"What was it like?"

Saber raises her face to look at me with that stone cold expression I'm quickly getting accustomed to. "It would do you no good to tell you about the previous wars. Suffice it to say that it is like it was last night. Death is always a hair's breadth away. You must not let your vigilance waver for even a moment, for that moment can mean the difference between victory and defeat."

I can tell there is a lesson hidden within her words, so I nod my head without reply. Saber also maintains silence until the table is joined fifteen minutes later by Rin and Shirou, and a veritable feast fit for someone well beyond my pay grade. A glorious smell wafts into my nostrils. Rin's meal the night before, though finely prepared, is a boxed lunch from a convenience store in comparison to this exquisite meal.

"This looks amazing," I say, ogling the dishes laid out before me.

Rin pokes me in the shoulder with a wooden spoon. "Knock that look off your face, will you? It's creeping me out."

"_Itadakimasu_," Saber mutters under her breath with the biggest smile I've seen on her face yet.

"Oh, I haven't properly introduced myself yet," Shirou says, sitting down to my left. "Shirou Emiya," he tells me his name, reaching out to me with his right hand.

"Kosuke Fukuya. Nice to meet you," I reply, shaking his hand firmly. His hand is rough, dry and calloused. Whatever he does for a living, it sure isn't a salary job in an office somewhere.

"Please, eat as much as you'd like," Shirou says, gesturing towards the food on the table.

"Thanks for your hospitality," I reply.

The four of us eat in silence for several minutes before Rin breaks the ice. "Though it pains me to admit it, your cooking has gotten even better, Shirou. I don't know how you do it."

"Well, I'd like to say it is all of my own doing, but I've got to thank Sakura for that."

"Oh, does Sakura still come over?"

"Not so much recently, but yeah."

"That's too bad. I wouldn't have minded saying 'hello' to her."

Why does this name sound familiar to me? Thankfully, Rin notices the puzzled expression on my face and fills me in. "Sakura Matou. Does the name ring any bells?"

Though I didn't have the best of relationships with my classmates, a long-haired girl wearing an innocent, peaceful smile pops into my memory this instant I hear her name. "Of course! She was in the same class as me in second year. Long hair, demure, very pretty. Didn't really talk much, though one could say the same about me."

"Yup, that's the one," Rin says, snapping her fingers.

"You know her?" I ask, looking between Shirou and Rin.

"We're good friends," Shirou says flatly.

Out of the corner of my eye, I swear I see Saber visibly flinch, but when I turn to look at her, she is wolfing down her food as she did the night before.

A sly grin passes across Rin's face as she leans towards Shirou and gives him a playful shove. "How good of friends are you now, eh?"

"You haven't changed at all, Tohsaka," Shirou retorts, shaking his head.

"I would like to know the nature of your relationship with Sakura as well, Shirou. Please do not avoid the question."

Three heads turn to look in surprise at Saber, who looks as serious as she did last night in the battle against Assassin.

Instead of losing his cool under the pressure of the Servant, Shirou just smiles at her and says, "And you haven't changed a bit either, Saber. I'm glad to know that."

"Please don't say such embarrassing things like that in front of other people," Saber mutters, her hardened expression melting like a block of ice in the summer heat. I'm shocked at how cute she can be.

Rin laughs merrily at the couple's repartee. "Just like old times, isn't it?"

"Hold on a second," I interrupt, holding up a finger and pointing it between Saber and Shirou. "So you two were?"

"Shirou was Saber's master in the last Holy Grail War."

"Which was five years ago…"

"Right. So?"

When it comes to math, it is impossible to find the solution to an equation without knowing all of the variables.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

I'm a genius with numbers. I can figure out even complex arithmetic in my head if I can see the variables. All of the pieces have fallen into place, and the proof, that unknown value of 'x', is staring me in the face.

"Are you alright?"

My head is swimming, and I feel like I'm going to pass out. How did I not notice this before? That red haze, the stench of death, the armored girl, and the student she was with…

I've no idea what kind of look I have on my face, but everyone is looking at me with concern. I feel sick to my stomach. I'm reliving this nightmare all over again. "The school, five years ago. That red haze. I saw you…you were both there!"

The worried expressions everyone is looking at me with suddenly turn to surprise. "And that other woman, with that knife…and that bright light…that was real!"


End file.
